Department Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources

Ref: BMIN16004364

Mr Richard Bolt
Secretary

Department Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources

Level 12, 1 Spring Street

MELBOURNE VIC 3000

Dear Mr Bolt

STATEMENT OF EXPECTATIONS FOR THE REGULATION AND MANAGEMENT OF COMMERCIAL AND RECREATIONAL FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE SECTORS UNDER VICTORIAN LEGISLATION

I am pleased to provide you with my Statement of Expectations for the regulation of fisheries and aquaculture under Victorian legislation. This Statement applies for the period 1 July 2016 to 30 June 2017, or until otherwise amended, and replaces all previous Statements.

This Statement sets out my expectations of Fisheries Victoria’s contribution to the Government’s Regulation Reform Program to reduce regulatory burden and improve regulatory practice. This Statement outlines key governance and performance objectives and targets aimed at promoting greater efficiency and effectiveness in the administration and enforcement of regulation. This aims to reduce the regulatory cost impact on businesses, not-for-profit organisations, government service providers and households.

This Statement further sets out my expectations regarding your role in delivering the Government’s commitments to recreational fishers, as outlined in the Target One Million plan.

As Minister for Agriculture, I have portfolio responsibility for the Fisheries Act 1995. This Statement should be read in the context of the objectives, obligations and functions outlined in this legislation and associated regulations as amended.

This Statement applies to all Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR) employees with responsibilities for regulating fisheries and aquaculture, including those who carry out powers and functions under enabling legislation, related government policies and the exercise of Ministerial powers and functions under an instrument of authorisation or delegation.

Improvements and targets

I have identified the following key areas of governance and operational performance where there are opportunities for Fisheries Victoria’s to improve its regulatory practice. Fisheries Victoria is expected to identify activities it will undertake to achieve the following performance improvements and targets:

Small business regulatory burden

The Government recognises that the regulatory burden can fall disproportionately on small business compared to larger business. Therefore, I expect you to develop performance and improvement targets to measure your effort in reducing regulatory burden on small business. In developing actions to achieve these improvements and targets, I expect you to consult with businesses and the broader community.

I expect that you will actively work with sectors over the next 12 months to seek their input and advice on specific regulatory changes that would reduce their regulatory burden, foster improved profitability and assist in delivering the Government’s medium term employment and economic growth objectives.

I further expect you to use this information to inform your review of fisheries regulations in the lead up to their sunsetting in 2019.

Role clarity

A high priority for the next year is to continue work with sector stakeholders on improving the fisheries management framework to ensure sustainability of harvest by fishers, clearer decision rules and improved security of access, while also clarifying and creating opportunities for stakeholders to responsibly participate in fisheries management.

Fishery Management Plans are a fundamental tool of best practice fisheries management. All plans should have clear objectives, link research with management responses through decision rules, improve certainty about access, allow transparent discussion about services to achieve the fishery level objectives and provide a platform for working constructively with the fishing sectors so they can assume a greater role in fisheries management.

A focus for the next 12 months should be to continue the delivery of new or updated management plans while also setting commercial catch and amending management controls to improve yields and avoid overfishing. You should also continue to prioritise work to develop and implement harvest strategies for all key fisheries.

A further key focus for Fisheries Victoria over the next 12 months is to continue delivering the government’s election commitments to recreational fishers under the Target One Million plan. I acknowledge your significant progress to date but note a number of specific commitments below that are underway but yet to be fully completed:

·  Increasing fish stocking to 5 million

·  Opening a barramundi fishery at Hazelwood

·  Banning netting at the mouths of rivers at Gippsland Lakes

·  Removing remaining commercial netting effort from Port Phillip Bay

·  Managing the Port Phillip Bay catch cap

·  Expanding the Trout Opening Festival

·  Completing the Stronger Fishing Clubs grants program

·  Delivering key Better Fishing Facilities program commitments

·  Delivering a recreational catch survey

·  Delivering an expanded angler catch and effort program

·  Developing innovative carp control methods

I also expect you to continue to progress improvement initiatives with fishing sectors. This should include implementing improved management arrangements for the wrasse fishery and introducing a tagging system for recreational rock lobster harvest.

I acknowledge work is well underway in DEDJTR to transition Fisheries Victoria to the Victorian Fisheries Authority. I expect you to take the opportunity, in advance of that transition, to review your high level strategy and operating model and bring any recommendations arising from that review to me for my consideration.

Stakeholder consultation and engagement

I emphasise the importance of maintaining effective working relationships with commercial fishers, recreational fishers, aquaculture licence holders, traditional owner groups, Commonwealth and interstate fisheries regulators, environment groups, community interest groups and other relevant stakeholders. I particularly expect DEDJTR to engage with fishers who have a direct interest in statutory decisions that affect their fishing entitlements.

Your engagement approaches should also include working with your colleagues across government agencies to integrate initiatives and ensure fishing and aquaculture is taken into account in the planning and delivery of other relevant public programs. This includes working with the aquaculture sector and other relevant parties to implement the soon to be completed Victorian Aquaculture Strategy.

I expect you to make full use of other current mechanisms for engaging with fishing sectors, including the Statewide Recreational Fishing Round Table and key representative bodies including VRFish, Seafood Industry Victoria and other industry-specific bodies.

I also expect you to make greater use of other proven engagement methods that allow stakeholders to increase their participation in fisheries management. The 2015 Talk Wild Trout conference is a recent example of such an approach.

Your website should provide accurate, up to date, clear and comprehensive information to encourage responsible fishing practices.

Your consultation and engagement needs to be structured to recognise the different ways in which the community wishes to be involved in fisheries management, also taking account of cultural and linguistic diversity. This includes participating in the many community events and festivals that are held across the state each year.

I further expect you to take greater opportunities to use contemporary communication approaches, including Facebook, Instagram and modern presentation methods to reach Victorian fishers while also maintaining traditional methods of communication for those who prefer such approaches.

Accountability and transparency

Transparency is a key element of good regulatory practice and is one of the principles of DEDJTR’s regulatory model. Regulators should be open about decisions and stakeholders should be able to easily understand the way in which regulation is applied.

I expect you to pay particular attention to improving your performance in this area over the next 12months, in terms of both better defining and reporting on the status of stocks and the key indicators of your performance in regulating fisheries and aquaculture.

I also expect that the now implemented prospective fisheries cost recovery regime will assist Fisheries Victoria in identifying areas where its performance in delivering services to the commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors requires improvement.

Good governance is an essential component of regulator integrity. I expect you to demonstrate effective accountability mechanisms both internally and also for fisheries representative bodies, the latter through funding agreements that include effective and transparent governance and performance frameworks.

Clear and consistent regulatory activities

It is essential that businesses and the community have a clear understanding of their regulatory responsibilities and obligations in fisheries.

It is also essential that the design and delivery of regulation for fisheries is efficient and effectively delivered in a way that stakeholders can readily understand and which facilitates their compliance.

I expect you to continue to review and refine current approaches to ensure you deliver efficient and effective risk-based regulatory outcomes, and in particular that you will apply the minimum level of regulatory intervention to achieve the outcomes sought.

This should specifically include bringing forward amendments to the Fisheries Act 1995 focused on improving and clarifying existing provisions, strengthening enforcement powers and penalties and addressing emerging fisheries management issues.

I also expect you will take the opportunity over the next 12 months to identify potential improvements that could be made to the fisheries regulatory framework via the forthcoming sunsetting process for the Fisheries (Fees, Royalties and Levies) Regulations and Fisheries Regulations.

Timeliness

Timeliness is an important component of good regulatory practice. I expect you to reduce the time taken for key decisions as far as quality, resourcing and due process allow. I also expect that you will improve the availability of online services and simplify processes, where possible, to reduce regulatory burden for individuals and businesses to complete forms and applications and streamline collecting and processing information. The improvements arising should be reported in your annual report.

I expect you to clearly communicate timelines for its processes to individuals and businesses, to reduce uncertainty and avoid duplication. As far as it is practical, I expect that you will align these timelines with other regulators where appropriate.

DEDJTR’s compliance framework

I acknowledge that DEDJTR has completed the regulatory model project, which focused on achieving efficient regulation and delivering a consistent regulatory approach. I expect that you implement the following key elements to improve regulatory performance and ensure a consistent stakeholder experience:

Compliance principles

It is important that all DEDJTR regulators are consistent in the way in which they interact with the public. I expect all your regulatory staff to be:

·  helpful

·  respectful

·  impartial

·  proportionate

·  predictable

·  transparent.

I also expect that you will measure your performance against these principles and report this to me within one year.

Risk-based compliance strategies

Regulatory outcomes can be improved by using a risk-based approach that focus activities to areas of greatest risk. I expect that you will implement a risk-based approach to manage your compliance responsibilities.

I note your ongoing work in implementing a best practice intelligence-led fisheries compliance program.

I expect that you will develop and publish a compliance strategy that includes risk-based priorities and performance measures to assess effectiveness of your compliance activities.

I expect that you will also develop an annual compliance plan to deliver on the priorities identified in the compliance strategy.

I further expect you will target your compliance effort to those areas that achieve optimal levels of compliance with the fisheries laws that underpin the sustainable and responsible utilisation of Victorian fisheries.

For fisheries this particularly includes addressing the following focus areas:

·  detect, investigate, disrupt and dismantle serious organised fisheries criminal activity, including the black market in high value fish species

·  ensure the accuracy of catch and effort reporting in commercial licence and permit holders, and detect and prevent quota fraud

·  police peak periods and locations of concentrated non-compliance and high volume activity.

It should also include targeting education programs to those areas of the community with the highest risk of offending.

Compliance related assistance and advice

A priority for me in this Statement is helping stakeholders understand their obligations.

I acknowledge that you currently provide a range of information sources, assistance and education programs in order to improve voluntary compliance with the legislation. I expect that you will further extend the reach and impact of this information over the life of this Statement to encourage the adoption of voluntary compliance. This may also assist with reducing the need for regulatory intervention.

I recognise the high standard of training and professional competence of the Fisheries Officer workforce. I expect Fisheries Officers will continue to share their knowledge and expertise with their other DEDJTR and partner agency authorised officer colleagues to support and encourage more effective and efficient management of compliance issues across government, particularly in the areas of emergency response and law enforcement support.

Regulator performance monitoring

I expect you to develop a mechanism for providing quality assurance, accountability and oversight of regulatory activity, consistent with recommendations from the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office in recent performance audits. I expect you to use performance monitoring to document how you meet your regulatory obligations and achieve compliance objectives. I expect that implementing performance monitoring includes mechanisms for collecting accurate quantitative and qualitative performance information; data management and analysis; assessment and reporting of the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of compliance activities; and a regime for the publishing compliance information and performance reporting.

Reporting

I expect that DEDJTR will respond to this Statement, describing how it intends to achieve the performance improvements outlined above. This response should include details of the specific targets, activities and a clear timetable for these to be achieved.

Reporting on your progress in achieving performance targets should be undertaken in the context of annual financial reporting to avoid dual reporting streams. As part of annual reporting, regulators are expected to report on:

·  current baseline levels for performance targets set in this Statement (where relevant)

·  activities to be undertaken to reach the performance improvements and targets set out in this Statement.

I also expect that these performance targets will be incorporated into the department’s performance reporting, and that this Statement and your response be published on the department’s website.

I look forward to seeing Fisheries Victoria continuously working towards achieving best practice in the administration and enforcement of regulation and management of Victoria’s fisheries resources.

Yours sincerely

Hon Jaala Pulford MP

Minister for Agriculture

Date: / /2016