ANNEX 1 - Country reviews

Country review: Australia (Indian Ocean coast)

Gary Morgan
FAO Consultant, Fishery Policy and Planning Division, Fisheries Department
August 2004

INTRODUCTION

The Indian Ocean coast of Australia, for the purposes of this review, includes the fishing areas off the coasts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Other areas of Australia (particularly those bordering the Pacific Ocean) are not reported on.

The Indian Ocean coast of Australia extends from tropical waters in the Northern territory and the northern parts of Western Australia to sub-temperate areas in the south of Western Australia. Like the Pacific coast of Australia, this Indian Ocean coast represents a large fishing area although production is limited by the lack of extensive, nutrient-rich upwelling and the generally narrow continental shelf. However, while production volume is limited, the value of that production is significant because of the predominance of high value species such as lobster, shrimp, abalone etc. Although the pearling industry is a major industry in the northern parts of Western Australia, it is not considered as part of this review since it is primarily an aquaculture activity (albeit the pearl shell for culture purposes is taken from wild stock).

In general, the management of fisheries in Australia is very highly developed and is characterized by a collaborative approach between Government and Industry. All major fisheries are limited entry in nature although entry entitlements to these fisheries are generally freely tradable. In recent years, two significant trends have emerged. Firstly, the move to a ‘user pays’ system where participants in each fishery are increasingly responsible for funding management, research and compliance costs that support the fishery. Secondly, the broadening of management objectives away from a ‘single-species’ approach to include more general ecosystem management issues. This second trend has been driven by Australia’s more general commitment to the principals of Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD).

POLICY FRAMEWORK

Being a confederation of States, both legislative and policy frameworks for fisheries management reside at both national and at state levels with various co-ordination mechanisms being in place to ensure that general fisheries management policy issues are consistent between national and State authorities. The fisheries of the Indian Ocean area of Australia are primarily managed at the State level, either because the fishery lies within State territorial waters^[96] or because arrangements have been put in place under Offshore Constitutional Settlement arrangements for the national Government to delegate its powers to the State^[97]. At the State level, specific fisheries management objectives are set out in State legislation, particularly the Fisheries Resources Management Act (1994) in Western Australia. At the national level, these objectives are contained in the Fisheries Administration Act (1991) and the Fisheries Management Act (1991). In cases where fisheries cross borders between state and national jurisdiction (for example, the western rock lobster fishery), the provisions of the Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) arrangements usually apply. These arrangements provide for consistent management of cross-jurisdictional fisheries.

For fisheries that cross State borders, the management arrangements tend to be handled independently by the various states within their area of jurisdiction with mostly informal co-ordination in management policy. However, in the Indian Ocean area of Australia, there are few fisheries that cross the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory and hence this co-ordination issue seldom is of practical significance.

At the national level, fisheries legislation is reviewed on an annual basis and necessary amendments to the legislation made. At the State level, legislation is reviewed on a regular (according to need) basis and major legislative reviews undertaken each 5-10 years. At these annual or major reviews, international mandates etc are considered for incorporation into national and State legislation. Following Australia’s ratification of the UN Fish Stock Agreement in 1999, implementing national legislation came into force in 2001. Australia is currently in the process of accepting the FAO Compliance Agreement, the binding element of the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and expects to deposit the Instrument of Acceptance in 2004 upon the passage of relevant national legislation. In general, all fisheries management policies in place in Australia at the national and State level incorporate the essential elements of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries.

The four pillars of fishery policy in the Indian Ocean area of Australia are (1) the move towards a ‘user pays’ system whereby the costs of fisheries management, compliance and research are fully funded by the stakeholders in the fishery^[98]; (2) a general management approach of establishing limited entry fisheries^[99]; (3) a collaborative approach to management where Government, industry and other stakeholders are formally and intimately involved in policy development and (4) an increasingly ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management where impacts of fishing activities on the general marine environment are incorporated into management decisions. As part of the trend towards incorporating a more ecosystem-based approach into its fisheries (and other natural resources) management arrangements, the Australian Government has adopted a framework for ensuring that fisheries are conducted within the provisions of Ecological Sustainable Development criteria. This framework uses environmental controls (including trade and export controls) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999) to ensure that fisheries are managed for long-term ecological sustainability.

The Western Australian Fisheries Resources Management Act (1994) specifically incorporates the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development (ESD) in its objectives and annual reporting of the State of the Fisheries in Western Australia therefore includes ‘triple bottom line’ reporting of economic, social and environmental objectives.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The major part of the Indian Ocean region of Australia borders the Western Australian coast with responsibility for fisheries managed within State jurisdiction of the area being with the Western Australian Department of Fisheries^[100]. In the Northern Territory, responsibility for management lies with the Northern territory Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development. At the national level, the organization responsible for fisheries management and compliance is the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA). Fisheries that lie in both State and national jurisdiction are managed under Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) arrangements, which are essentially agreements between the States and the national government on management arrangements. The major fishery of western rock lobster is managed under OCS arrangements whereby the federal government effectively delegates its powers for management outside the 3 nm limit to the Western Australian State authorities.

Although the jurisdiction for fisheries management is shared between national and State authorities, there are legislative requirements in place that require coordination in management. In addition, the management approach, being participatory, also involves a wide range of stakeholder groups, including other Government ministries, fishermen, indigenous groups, recreational fisher’s organizations, community and environmental lobby groups etc. As a result, a range of other legislation, codes of conduct and opinions impact on fisheries management outcomes. At the legislative level, these include issues relating to quarantine, crimes at sea, transport, telecommunications, marine safety, endangered species and ecological protection.

STATUS OF THE FISHERIES

In 2000-01, the total fish catch from the Indian Ocean areas of Australia was 36 290 tonnes of a total Australian (Pacific plus Indian Oceans) catch of 229 840 tonnes or 15.8 percent of the total Australian catch by weight (ABARE, 2002), a figure that has remained static since 1995/96. Although this total Australian production was valued in excess of $AU1.3 billion, it represents less than 0.3 percent of Australia’s GDP. In the Indian Ocean area, the high value species of lobster and shrimp dominate the sector, contributing around 49.5 percent of value but only around 34.6 percent of volume. The western rock lobster fishery, which is confined to Western Australia’s south west coastline, is Australia’s largest single fishery and alone contributes around $AU300 million of the total value of Australia’s Indian Ocean fisheries of $AU700 million.

Fisheries in the area are generally fully utilized for all the known finfish, crustaceans and mollusk resources. Serious stock depletions have occurred but are not common although the Shark Bay snapper fishery in Western Australia suffered severe depletion as a result of both commercial and recreational over-exploitation. This fishery is now tightly controlled and a stock-rebuilding process is in place.

The status of each fishery is assessed (against performance criteria contained within each fishery’s management plan) and reported on annually by the management agency to State and National Governments through formal State of the Fisheries reports. In addition, the western rock lobster fishery has been independently assessed by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2000 and was the first fishery in the world to be certified as ‘sustainable’ according to the MSC criteria.

The three largest fisheries in Australia’s Indian Ocean area by volume are the western rock lobster fishery, the Shark Bay scallop fishery and the Shark Bay and Exmouth Gulf shrimp fishery. All of these fisheries are located in Western Australia with the largest fishery in the Northern Territory being the crab fishery, which takes around 1 100 tonnes per annum.

Finfish landings in the area are very small, considering the extremely large EEZ of Australia’s Indian Ocean area, a reflection of the low productivity of this western coast of Australia. The landings of all species of finfish in the Indian Ocean area of Australia slightly exceed the landings of western rock lobster. However, these finfish landings are taken in a large number of separate locations by a variety of gear over more than 3 500 km of coastline and do not constitute a single ‘fishery’.

Because of strict management controls and limitation of access, most fisheries remain very profitable. Almost all fisheries now operate under a limited access arrangement although access licenses are usually freely tradable. This arrangement has lead to significant increases in access license values, resulting in a concentration of ownership of access rights and economic barriers to new entrants.

Continued and improved fisheries management within the requirements of ecological sustainable development (ESD) is the key objective for the Australian fishing industry. The challenge may well be to achieve this objective in a way that minimizes the concentration of access rights to a small number of fishers.

A summary of the largest fisheries in the Indian Ocean area of Australia in 2002 is presented in the Annex.

MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY

Australia has a well-developed system of fisheries management and all major (and most minor) fisheries are under formal management arrangements. In the Indian Ocean area, most major fisheries are under State management control. The development of fisheries policy is therefore undertaken by the Western Australian Department of Fisheries (for fisheries that are located in Western Australia) or by the department of Business, Industry and Natural resources for fisheries in the Northern territory. The process of policy development is a participatory one and involves all stakeholders (including other Government bodies, fishermen, interest groups etc) through formal consultation processes and by making draft management plans available for general public scrutiny and comment prior to implementation. All major fisheries have a published Management Plan, which is reviewed regularly, and policy development includes the formal process of Management Advisory Committees for major fisheries (which consist of stakeholder representatives) that provide advice directly to the Minister. The Minister also receives advice on management policy directly from the State Fisheries Departments in each jurisdiction.

The implementation of fisheries management measures is undertaken by State Fisheries Ministries and departments at the State level. For stocks that cross national and State jurisdictions, Offshore Constitutional Settlement arrangements are in place to provide consistent policy formulation and implementation of management measures across all jurisdictions.

Recreational fisheries are important in all Australian waters, including Indian Ocean waters. Recreational fishers are formally represented on Management Advisory Committees^[101] for those fisheries where there is an important recreational component, for example the western rock lobster fishery. Recreational fishers in major marine fisheries of rock lobster and abalone (in addition to freshwater fisheries) are required to be licensed although no license is required for marine recreational angling. For the abalone and rock lobster fisheries, additional restrictions on bag limits, gear limits and specific recreational seasons apply.

Indigenous fisheries are practiced throughout northern Australia although, until recently, little data was available on the extent of these fisheries. In 2000, the Bureau of Resource Sciences conducted a survey of indigenous fisheries. The study showed that an estimated 37 000 indigenous people^[102], or 91.7 percent of the indigenous population, aged 5 years or older and living in communities in northern Australia, fished at least once during the study period. In a twelve month period between June 2000 and November 2001, they study estimated that fishers harvested:

• 0.91 million finfish

• 0.98 million small baitfish

• 0.18 million crabs and lobsters

• 0.66 million prawns and yabbies

• 1.15 million molluscs

• 0.93 million miscellaneous species.

Catch weights were not recorded.

In the Indian Ocean area (i.e. Western Australia and Northern Territory), the three largest (by number, not weight, of catch) marine indigenous fisheries were mussels (582 000), other bivalves (232 850) and mullet (113 692). Being traditional fisheries, these fisheries are not specifically managed although local customs regulate harvesting to some extent. These fisheries are not covered by any specific management plans.

In Western Australia, one Aboriginal person may be appointed to a 14-member Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee, but there is no statutory requirement for an Aboriginal person to be appointed to other fisheries Management Advisory Committees. The Department does consult with Aboriginal communities however and involves Aboriginal communities in the Volunteer Fisheries Liaison Officer program.

With the approval of the Northern Territory Government, and after consultations with the Anindilyakwa Land Council and the Tiwi Land Council, the Northern Territory Fisheries Division has put in place the Anindilyakwa Consultative Committee and Tiwi Coastal Waters Consultative Committee. Both these committees are non-statutory. Aboriginal people are not yet represented on species-specific advisory committees in the Northern Territory, although the Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries has approved Aboriginal membership on some Fishery Advisory Committees (FACs). Commercial licensees (including those of Aboriginal descent) are represented on species-based FACs (where they have been established) by a nominated person(s) elected by the licensees.

The number of stocks under management has increased over the past ten years as commercial interest is shown in a wider array of species and as management processes extend to species of lesser commercial or recreational interest. All managed stocks undergo formal and regular assessment to determine their status while management plans also incorporate a regular (usually each five years) and exhaustive review process.

In 2003 in the Indian Ocean area of Australia, of the 29 discrete fisheries, 2 were considered over-exploited, 22 were fully utilized, 3 underfished and 2 (all minor species) of uncertain status. There is a legislative requirement for managers to address over-exploited stocks and to implement recovery strategies and this is being done for the two stocks considered overexploited.

Management tools in use are fishery-specific and, apart from a prohibition on the use of drift nets (legislated as part of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and State legislation); there are no other blanket restrictions on the use of any management tool or fishing gear.

Over the past ten years however, there has been a trend towards the use of output controls in preference to the still commonly used input controls. In particular, Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) are being increasingly used as a management tool to enhance the sense of ownership of access rights among operators and also to encourage economic efficiency. However, management by output controls has, to date, been confined to minor fisheries and all of the major fisheries in the area are managed by input controls. In 2003, of the 29 fisheries under management, only 7 were managed by ITQ’s, the most prominent being the abalone fishery of Western Australia.

After a detailed investigation, the western rock lobster industry and the Government managers recently rejected a move to introduce an ITQ management arrangement in the fishery.^[103]

Fisheries management is also moving very clearly towards ESD principles where ecosystem effects of fishing are increasingly being addressed as part of fisheries management plans and planning. This process is being driven by national environmental legislation that requires management processes that will ensure ecological sustainability of fisheries. As a result, issues such as ecosystem impacts of fishing activities, bycatch assessment and minimization and marine conservation (often through Marine Protected Areas) are an increasingly important component of fisheries management processes and policies.

Industry initiatives to introduce ESD principles have also become common, partly as a result of perceived market advantage. The most visible of these initiatives was the certification of the western rock lobster fishery as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, the first fishery in the world to achieve such certification.

With these broader policy issues in fisheries management, and with the need to address an increasing number of (often minor) fisheries, the major obstacle to more effective management in the future is limitation of resources to address, and to ensure compliance with, management measures. Compliance costs in particular are increasing rapidly, particularly since the Indian Ocean fisheries of Australia are often in remote locations. However, industry involvement in the management process and the almost universal adoption of a user-pays system (where the industry pays for compliance and other costs through license fees) has, to date, kept these compliance costs under control. At the national level, compliance costs are also increasing rapidly as Australia addresses remote fisheries (e.g. Patagonian toothfish) in its Southern Ocean territories. In addition, there is often insufficient scientific knowledge of the ecosystem implications of fisheries to support ecosystem-based management processes. Australia is addressing the resources issue through a variety of means, including moving to a ‘user-pays’ system of management where the owners of the access rights to fisheries are required to pay an increasing share of the costs of management, research and compliance for some fisheries.

COSTS AND REVENUES OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

For all Australian fisheries, total costs of fisheries management, compliance and research has increased significantly over the past ten years and, in 2000, was $AU148.1 million, or approximately $US104 million (OECD, 2003). This total cost consisted of $AU74 million (50 percent) for research services, $AU26.3 million (18 percent) for management services and policy development and $AU47.8 million (32 percent) for enforcement.

Within Australia’s Indian Ocean fisheries, nearly all of which are managed by the State authorities, the total costs of management has increased by about 3 percent per annum to 2003, with the total costs of management (including management activities, research and enforcement) in 2002/03 being approximately $AU47 million.

The major commercial fisheries (including western Rock Lobster, Abalone, shrimp and scallop fisheries) however now operate in a fully cost-recovered management environment, which requires that licensees in these fisheries pay fees to cover the total cost of management. Cost recovery has been phased in over a number of years, with the final stage of cost recovery (100 percent cash costs plus capital accruals and employee entitlements) being reached in 2001/02.

As a result, the costs of management are increasingly met from the commercial fishing industry and Government contributions to management in the area are decreasing or are remaining steady. In Western Australia, Government contributions to the costs of managing fisheries have decreased from 60.5 percent of costs in 1996/97 to 35.5 percent in 2002/03.

Compliance costs incurred by the federal Government to deter illegal foreign fishing in Australia’s northern waters have increased dramatically in the past ten years because of an increase in the number of vessels fishing illegally and an increase in detention and security costs. In 1998, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) began incurring costs to deter illegal fishing in Antarctic waters although in 2003, the Australian Customs Service took over the significant costs of providing patrol vessels for this area.

IMPLEMENTATION OF GLOBAL FISHERIES MANDATES AND INITIATIVES

Australia ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982 and UN Fish Stocks Agreement in 1999. In addition, Australia is in the process of ratifying the UN Compliance Agreement and this process is expected to be completed during 2004 after passage of relevant domestic legislation.

The objectives of UNCLOS and the UN Fish Stocks Agreement have been incorporated into national legislation as part of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and are implemented, at both national and State levels, through formal Management Plans for each fishery. The obligations embodied in the FAO Compliance Agreement are in the process of being incorporated into the Fisheries Management Act (1991) and the Fisheries Administration Act (1991).

The implementation of the provisions of International Plans of Action related to managing fishing capacity, IUU fishing, shark management and seabird by-catch in longline fisheries has been, or is in the process of being, undertaken in appropriate fisheries. This is achieved by developing domestic legislation to address these provisions through the preparation of National Plans of Action. It is a legislated requirement (referred to as ‘Strategic Assessment’) that these National Plans of Action, when finalized, be incorporated into fisheries-specific Management Plans.

PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL FISHERY BODIES

Participation in Regional fisheries Bodies is through the federal government authorities although often State Fisheries representatives may attend as observers on the Australian mission. Australia is an active member of a number of Regional Fisheries Bodies, primarily related to issues in the Indo-Pacific area. These include APFIC, IOTC, the APEC Fisheries Working Group, FFA, SPC CCAMLR and CCSBT. Australia has also signed and ratified WCPFC.

Measures that are adopted by these Regional Fisheries Bodies are usually incorporated into national legislation, particularly the Fisheries Management Act (1991) or are incorporated directly into specific Fisheries Management Plans. There is no legal requirement for all measures that are adopted by regional Fisheries Bodies to be incorporated into national legislation and each issue is considered from a national perspective, after consultation with stakeholders.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Indian Ocean area of Australia is characterized by a small volume, high value species assemblage and fisheries based on these high-value species of lobster, shrimp, crabs and abalone are both well-managed and profitable. Although most of the fisheries in the area are managed by State authorities, there is a well-developed system of fisheries management in place and authorities have generally succeeded in managing the domestic fisheries for long-term sustainability. In addition, because most fisheries are managed on a limited entry basis, over-capacity is not a significant issue in most fisheries. As a result, the major fisheries are often highly profitable. This arrangement has lead to significant increases in the value of the tradable access rights to these fisheries, resulting in a concentration of ownership and economic barriers to new entrants. This has resulted, in most major fisheries, to a significant reduction in the number of operators (within a limited entry management environment) and therefore an increase in the concentration of ownership of access rights.

Continued and improved fisheries management within the requirements of ecological sustainable development (ESD) is the key objective for the Australian fishing industry. The challenge may well be to achieve this objective in a way that minimizes the concentration of access rights to a small number of fishers.

The approach taken by management authorities in Australia is a collaborative and participatory one, involving all stakeholders in policy development and implementation and this has generally lead to broad acceptance of management measures. There has been a discernible shift in management approach over the past ten years towards managing outputs rather than inputs although the majority of fisheries (and certainly all the major fisheries) in the Indian Ocean area continue to be managed by input controls.

With the move to broaden fisheries policy objectives to a more ecosystem-based approach, the costs of fisheries management and supporting services of research and enforcement are increasing rapidly. With State Government funding for fisheries management remaining more or less static over the past ten years, the participants in the (mostly limited entry) fisheries are meeting an ever-increasing share of the total management and supporting costs through a ‘user-pays’ system. These costs, which in 2003, amounted to around 65 percent of total management costs in the Indian Ocean area, are collected through license fees. As a result of this trend, annual license fees in many fisheries are now very high although most fisheries are still very profitable despite these high fees.

REFERENCES

ABARE. 2002. Australian Fisheries Statistics, 2001. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. 64 pp. ISSN 1037-6879.

OECD. 2003. The Costs of Managing Fisheries. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. 173 pp. ISBN 92-64-09975-1.

APPENDIX TABLES

Capture fisheries production (tonnes) and value (2002 $US equivalent) for the period 1998/99-2000/01 for the Indian Ocean Coast Area of Australia

Current management of marine capture fisheries

¹ In other cases of managed fisheries where no regulations have been published, licenses with conditions/rules are generally issued to participants under either national or State Fisheries Acts.

n/a = not applicable.

Summary information for three largest fisheries (by volume) for the fiscal year 2001/2002

¹ Value in 2002 US Dollars.

² % values caught and % volume caught are based on totals for each category of fishery. For recreational fisheries, the proportion of the volume is not known because data is not available on all recreational landings. Value is not measured in recreational or indigenous fisheries.

³ The rock lobster fishery is managed as a single fishery with commercial and recreational components. Recreational catch includes diving (162t) and potting (383 t).

⁴ Includes umbrella licences covering all licensed recreational fisheries), with 8,680 specific abalone licences being issued.

⁵ Data in numbers. No data on catch weights are available.

n.a. = not available.

n.k. = not known.

Use of fishery management tools within the three largest fisheries in Australia, Indian Ocean

Costs and funding sources of fisheries management within the three largest fisheries

Compliance and enforcement within the three largest fisheries

Capacity management within the three largest fisheries

n.a. = not available.