Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries is seeking limits on the amount of snapper Commonwealth-licensed commercial trawl fishers are allowed to harvest – there is currently no enforceable limit on the quantity of snapper caught as by-catch by trawlers.
DPI Victoria has asked the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to restrict operators to a maximum of 50kg of snapper by-product on each trip. Commonwealth log book and Catch Disposal Record data shows an increase in Commonwealth catches of snapper from waters off the Victorian coast between 2003 and 2009.
The increase was attributable to trawl catches in western and central Bass Strait waters, some of which coincide with peak snapper spawning season and migrations to Port Phillip Bay.
DPI Victoria has been working with the AFMA and the South East Trawl Fisherman’s Association to identify effective measures to remove incentives for Commonwealth-licensed commercial trawl fishers to target snapper. Such moves are consistent with the intent of the 1997 Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) agreements and associated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that all targeted snapper fishing should be managed under Victorian fisheries legislation.
