FISHERIES ACT 1995 - SCHEDULE 4

FISHERIES ACT 1995 - SCHEDULE 4

Schedule 4—Restriction of net fishing in Port Phillip Bay

Sections 153F, 153G and 153I

Part 1—Election to retain licence

        1     Notice of election to retain licence

    (1)     The Minister must give notice in accordance with this clause that each holder of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence may elect to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022.

    (2)     The notice must be—

        (a)     published in the Government Gazette; and

        (b)     sent by letter to each holder of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence.

    (3)     The notice must state the following—

        (a)     that each holder of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence may elect to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022;

        (b)     the opening and closing date for the making of the election;

        (c)     that the election must be made in writing addressed to the Secretary and signed by the licence holder;

        (d)     the address to which the election must be sent;

        (e)     the information that must be included in the election, which must include the name of the licence holder and the licence number;

        (f)     that making an election does not entitle the licence holder to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022 unless the Secretary notifies the licence holder in writing that the election is successful.

        2     Election to retain licence

An election by a holder of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022 must—

        (a)     be made in writing to the Secretary and received by the Secretary within the period stated in the notice under clause 1; and

        (b)     be signed by the licence holder; and

        (c)     include the information required by the notice under clause 1.

        3     Determination of successful elections

    (1)     After the closing date specified in the notice under clause 1 for making an election, the Secretary must determine in accordance with this clause which of the elections to retain a licence are successful.

    (2)     If 8 or less holders of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence have made an election in accordance with clause 2, the Secretary must determine that the election of each of those licence holders is successful.

    (3)     If more than 8 holders of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence have made an election in accordance with clause 2—

        (a)     the Secretary must determine the non‑net catch of each of those licence holders over the survey period based on the records held by the Secretary; and

        (b)     the Secretary must rank the licence holders from the highest non-net catch determined under paragraph (a) to the lowest; and

        (c)     the Secretary must determine that—

              (i)     the election of each of the 8 highest ranked licence holders is successful; and

              (ii)     the remaining elections are unsuccessful.

    (4)     In this clause—

"non-net catch", of a licence holder, means the total weight in kilograms of the non-net catch of all species caught under the licence (whether or not the licence holder held the licence for the whole of the survey period);

"records held by the Secretary" means the records of catch history as recorded in the Integrated Catch and Effort System maintained by the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources on behalf of the Secretary;

"survey period" means the 5 year period from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014.

        4     Notification of outcome of election

After determining which of the elections made by the holders of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence to retain their licence are successful, the Secretary must notify in writing—

        (a)     each of the licence holders who made a successful election stating that—

              (i)     the election made by the licence holder is successful; and

              (ii)     the licence holder is entitled to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022; and

        (b)     each of the licence holders (if any) who made an unsuccessful election stating that the election made by the licence holder is unsuccessful.

Part 2—Election to surrender licence

        5     Definitions

In this Part—

"continuing licence holder" means a licence holder who is entitled under section 153F(3) to retain a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence on and after 1 April 2022;

"election period" means—

        (a)     the initial election period; or

        (b)     the 12 month period commencing on—

              (i)     1 April 2016; or

              (ii)     1 April 2017; or

              (iii)     1 April 2018; or

              (iv)     1 April 2019; or

              (v)     1 April 2020;

"eligible licence holder" means—

        (a)     in the case of the initial election period—all licence holders;

        (b)     in the case of any other election period—all remaining licence holders;

"initial election period" means the period commencing on the day section 5 of the Fisheries Amendment Bill 2015 comes into operation and ending immediately before 1 April 2016;

"licence holder" has the same meaning as in section 153D;

"remaining licence holder" means a licence holder who is not a continuing licence holder.

        6     Notice that licence holder may elect to surrender licence

    (1)     On or after the commencement of each election period, the Minister must give notice in accordance with this clause that each eligible licence holder may elect to surrender their licence.

    (2)     The notice must be—

        (a)     published in the Government Gazette; and

        (b)     sent by letter to each eligible licence holder.

    (3)     The notice must state the following—

        (a)     that each eligible licence holder may elect to surrender their licence;

        (b)     the opening and closing date for the making of the election;

Sch. 4 cl. 6(3)(c) amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(a).

        (c)     that the election must be made in writing addressed to the Victorian Fisheries Authority and signed by the licence holder;

        (d)     the address to which the election must be sent;

        (e)     the information that must be included in the election, which must include the name of the licence holder and the licence number;

        (f)     in the case of the notice given in the initial election period—

              (i)     that the holder of a Western Port/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence may elect to surrender their licence even if they also elect to retain their licence; and

              (ii)     the election to surrender is conditional on the election to retain the licence being unsuccessful;

        (g)     if the licence holder elects to surrender their licence and that election is successful, the licence will be cancelled before the end of the election period in which the election is made.

    (4)     In addition, the notice sent to each eligible licence holder must state the amount of compensation payable to the licence holder if the licence is cancelled in the current election period.

        7     Election to surrender licence

An election by an eligible licence holder to surrender their licence must—

Sch. 4 cl. 7(a) amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(b).

        (a)     be made in writing to the Victorian Fisheries Authority and received by the Victorian Fisheries Authority within the period stated in the notice under clause 6; and

        (b)     be signed by the licence holder; and

        (c)     include the information required by the notice under clause 6.

        8     Determination of successful elections

Sch. 4 cl. 8(1) amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(c).

    (1)     After the closing date specified in the notice under clause 6 for making an election and subject to subclause (2), the Victorian Fisheries Authority must determine that each of the elections to surrender a licence made in accordance with clause 7 is successful.

Sch. 4 cl. 8(2) amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(d)(i).

    (2)     The Victorian Fisheries Authority must not determine that an election by a licence holder to surrender their licence is successful if—

        (a)     the election to surrender was not made in accordance with clause 7; or

Sch. 4 cl. 8(2)(b) amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(d)(ii).

        (b)     the Victorian Fisheries Authority has determined that an election by the licence holder to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022 is successful; or

        (c)     an election by the licence holder to retain their licence on and after 1 April 2022 remains undetermined.

Sch. 4 cl. 9 amended by No. 68/2016 s. 158(e).

        9     Notification of successful election

After determining which of the elections made by licence holders to surrender their licence are successful, the Victorian Fisheries Authority must notify in writing—

        (a)     each of the licence holders who made a successful election stating—

              (i)     that the election made by the licence holder to surrender their licence is successful; and

              (ii)     the effective date of the cancellation of the licence; and

              (iii)     the amount of compensation to which the licence holder is entitled; and

        (b)     each of the licence holders who made an unsuccessful election stating that the election made by the licence holder to surrender their licence is unsuccessful.

Part 3—Calculation of compensation

        10     Calculation of compensation

    (1)     The amount of compensation payable to a licence holder whose licence is cancelled under section 153H is determined in accordance with Table 1 where—

        T     is the annual average catch value of the catch taken under the licence held by the licence holder over the survey period (whether or not the licence holder held the licence for the whole of that period).

Table 1