Ref: 2010/12125

Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
PO Box 6022
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Dear Minister

I am writing to you as the Delegate of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities in relation to thereassessment of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fisheryunder theEnvironmentProtection and Biodiversity Conservation Act1999 (EPBCAct).

In December 2012,the Australian Fisheries Management Authority provided an application to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities seeking continued export approval for the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery.

The application has been assessed for the purposes of the protected species provisions of Part13 and the wildlife trade provisions of Part13A of the EPBCAct. The assessment took into account measures that have been developed by theAustralian Fisheries Management Authorityin response to the recommendations made in the 2010 assessment of the fishery.

I am pleased to advise that the assessment is now complete. The new assessment report will be available on the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities’ website at:

I consider that the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fisheryoperates in line with the AustralianGovernment ‘Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2ndEdition.’ Given the management arrangements and precautionary measures for the fishery including an annually set total allowable catch, a seasonal closure from 1 January to 30 March and opening of discrete areas of the fishery on a rotational or staged basis only if strict opening criteria are met, I have decided to amend the list of exempt native specimens to allow export of product from the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery for a period of fiveyears, until 13April 2018.

While there are some environmental risks associated with the Bass Strait Central Zone ScallopFishery, Ibelieve that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority has in place measures to address these issues. Officers from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and thisdepartment have discussed and agreed to five recommendations focussing on ensuring the continuation of good management practices. These recommendations can be found at Attachment 1.

The Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop FisheryManagement Plan2002 was most recently accredited under Part13 of the EPBCAct, for interactions with protected species, in May2009.Iam satisfied that it continues to be unlikely that fishing operations conducted in accordance with the management plan will adversely affect the conservation status of listed migratory species, listed marine species or cetaceans, or affect the survival or recovery in nature of listed threatened species. Ialso consider that under themanagement plan, operators are required to take all reasonable steps to avoid the killing or injuring of species listed under Part13 of the EPBC Act.

I have therefore reaccredited the Bass Strait Central Zone ScallopFisheryManagement Plan2002 under Part13 of the EPBC Act. Accreditation will ensure that individual fishers operating in accordance with the management plan are not required to seek permits if they are at risk of killing or injuring listed species in Commonwealth waters.

Please note that my decisions under theEPBCAct relate to the management arrangements in force at thetime of the assessment decision. To ensure that the decisions remain valid, theDepartment of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communitiesneeds to be advised of any intended changes to the management arrangements and make an assessment that the new arrangements are equivalent or better, in terms of ecological sustainability, than those in place at the time of the original decisions. This includes legislated amendments and operational changes that may affect the impact of the harvest in relation to target species, byproduct, bycatch, protected species or the ecosystem.

I would like to thank you for the constructive way in which your officials have approached this assessment.I have written to the Hon Michael Egan, Chairman of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority Commission, in similar terms.

Yours sincerely

[signed]

Geoff Richardson
Delegate of the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
8 April 2013

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Recommendations to the Australian Fisheries ManagementAuthority on the ecologically sustainable management of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery, April 2013

  1. Operation of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery will be carried out in accordance with the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop FisheryManagement Plan2013in force under the Fisheries Management Act1991.
  2. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority to inform the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities of any intended material changes to the management arrangements of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery that may affect the assessment against which EnvironmentProtection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 decisions are based.
  3. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority to produce and present reports to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities annually as per Appendix B to the ‘Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries - 2ndEdition’.
  4. The Australian Fisheries ManagementAuthority to continue to improve the understanding of non-retained species interactions by:
  1. investigating methods to improve the monitoring of non-retained species, including by reviewing the effectiveness of current observer coverage levels on fishing operations and the quality of information recorded in logbooks
  2. developing materials to enable crew to identify species classified as high-risk through the ecological risk assessment for the fishery, and
  3. continuing to consider the impacts of post capture mortality of scallops when setting the annual total allowable catch.
  1. AFMA to:
  2. provide a report based on the outcomes of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery Harvest Strategy review, and
  1. consider the issues identified in the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation report, ‘Establishing fine-scale industry based spatial management and harvest strategies for the commercial scallop fishery in South East Australia’, including impacts on stock biomass, when developing future management arrangements.

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