Northern Territory Consolidated Acts

FISHERIES ACT - SECT 11

(1) Subject to this Act, every person who proposes to do any thing specified in section 10(1) shall apply to the Director for an appropriate licence.

(2) An application for a licence under this section shall be made on an approved form and shall be accompanied by the prescribed fee (if any).

(3) An approved form under subsection (2) shall, at the least, make provision for the applicant's name and an address for service.

(3A) The Director must determine an open and public process for -

(a) the allocation of licences for a new fishery; and

(b) if an existing fishery is expanded - the allocation of additional licences, and the review of the conditions attaching to existing licences, for the fishery.

(4) In considering an application under this section -

(a) the Director's primary regard must be for the sustainability of the fishery; and

(b) the Director must also have regard to any requirements or matters prescribed in the Regulations as being relevant to an application or a nominated person, or both, as the case may be, for the type of licence applied for.

(5) Where an applicant already holds a licence in respect of a fishery or other prescribed matter, any further grant of a licence or licences during the term of that licence may be made by noting the grant on the original licence form.

(6) Where the Director is satisfied that, in relation to the application, the applicant complies with this Act or an instrument of a legislative or administrative character made under it and the applicant is not otherwise barred from holding a licence, the Director shall grant the appropriate licence.

(7) Subject to subsection (8), a licence under this section may be granted for a period of not more than 5 financial years on payment of the prescribed fee (if any) for each financial year of the licence and shall be subject to such conditions relating to areas, species, quantities, methods, the use or non-use of vessels and the specific vessel or types of vessels (if any) that may be used, types and amounts of fishing gear, harvesting, handling, specific ports or places where fish or aquatic life may be landed, and periods of time as the Director, if those matters are not otherwise prescribed, considers appropriate.

(7A) Where a licence is granted after the commencement of a financial year, the remaining part of the financial year shall be taken as a full financial year for the purposes of this section.

(8) A licence relating to aquaculture may be granted for such period as the Director thinks fit, including a period related to the term of a lease, and shall be subject to such conditions as the Director considers appropriate or as may otherwise be prescribed.

(9) The fee payable in respect of a licence granted for more than one financial year may be paid in annual instalments, each instalment being paid before the licence, if it were granted for one year, would expire.

(10) The Director may from time to time, by written notice to a licence holder, amend or revoke the conditions of the licence or add new conditions.

(11) The conditions referred to in this section shall be substantially the same for all licences for any fishery management area or Joint Authority fishery or in respect of the same class or species of fish or aquatic life unless the Director is satisfied, on stated grounds, that different conditions are reasonable.

(12) The Director may, if the Director considers it expedient to do so, require a licensee to return the licence document and the Director shall issue a substitute containing any new conditions in its place.

(15) Where a licence is cancelled, the registration of a vessel used pursuant to that licence is also cancelled but the Director shall
re-register the vessel if the cancellation of the licence is revoked.

(16) Nothing in subsection (15) shall prevent a vessel being registered in relation to a licence held by a licensee who is not the licensee whose licence is cancelled or is not a partnership or company in which that licensee is a partner or has an interest.