Legislation
Fisheries Management Act 2007
Management and regulation of fishing in South Australia comes under the Fisheries Management Act 2007 (external site). This Act replaces the Fisheries Act 1982.
The new Act:
- includes new offences and heavier penalties
- gives Fisheries Officers powers to search a person suspected of hiding evidence of an offence
- establishes a new Fisheries Council of members from commercial, recreational and indigenous fishing to advise the Minister on fisheries issues
- provides for a more ecosystem-based approach to managing fisheries, with conservation objectives, risk-based assessments of potential impacts on the ecosystem and tools to protect fish habitats
- provides for specific possession limits of fish species, above which a person will have committed an offence
A co-management approach will continue under this Act with the establishment of a Fisheries Council to provide advice to the Minister on the management of fisheries, whether for commercial use, recreational use or for Aboriginal traditional fishing purposes.
Under the Act there are a number of Regulations, including:
- Fisheries Management Regulations (external site) dealing with management policies that need to be in place for particular fisheries, including licence terms and conditions
- Fisheries (General) Regulations 2007 (external site) deal with restrictions on fishing, particularly recreational fishing such as size, bag and boat limits
- Fisheries Management (Fees) Regulations 2007 (external site) sets the fees charged various applications under the Act
- Fisheries (Fish Processors) Regulations 2007 (external site) dealing with the fish processing industry
- Fisheries (Aquatic Reserves) Regulations 2007 (external site) to provide for establishing reserves with restrictions on fishing and other activities
- Fisheries (Vessel Monitoring Scheme) Regulations 2007 (external site) to allow the monitoring of movement of commercial fishing vessels.
Fisheries Officers have powers to enforce the rules and regulations made under the Act.
Fisheries Council
The Fisheries Council will be expertise-based and will have 9 members appointed by the Governor, plus the Director of Fisheries as an ex-officio member. The Council has a broad advisory role and key responsibility for the preparation and maintenance of fishery management plans.
These management plans will extend the period and tenure of commercial fishing licences from the current one-year period to periods of up to 10 years, providing an improved investment climate for the commercial fishing industry.
The Fisheries Council replaces the previous Fishery Management Committees.
- Page URL: http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/fisheries/legislation
- Page Last Modified: December 10, 2007