House of Representatives Committees

TWO INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON TUNA 3rd Report
CONTENTS

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was formed in the 38th Parliament on 17 June 1996. The Committee's Resolution of Appointment allows the Committee to inquire into and report upon:

matters arising from treaties and related National Interest Analyses and proposed treaty actions presented or deemed to be presented to the Parliament;
any question relating to a treaty or other international instrument, whether or not negotiated to completion, referred to the committee by: (i) either House of the Parliament, or (ii) a Minister; and
such other matters as may be referred to the committee by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and on such conditions as the Minister may prescribe. Pursuant to these terms of reference the Committee resolved to inquire into the Subsidiary Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Japan concerning Long-line Tuna Fishing 1996 and the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

38th Parliament

Chair	Mr W L Taylor MP (LP, QLD)
Deputy Chair	Mr R B McClelland MP (ALP, NSW)
Members	Senator E Abetz (LP, TAS)
	Senator V W Bourne (DEM, NSW)
	Senator K Carr (ALP, VIC)
	Senator K Denman (ALP, TAS)
	Senator C M Ellison (LP, WA)
	Senator B J Neal (ALP, NSW)
	Senator W G O'Chee (NP, QLD)
	Hon D G H Adams MP (ALP, TAS)
	Mr K J Bartlett MP (LP, NSW)
	Mr L D T Ferguson MP (ALP, NSW)
	Mr G D Hardgrave MP (LP, QLD)
	Mr A C Smith MP (LP, QLD)
	Mr W E Truss MP (NP, QLD)
	Mr C W Tuckey MP (LP, WA)

Committee Secretary: Mr Peter Stephens
Principal Research Officer: Ms Cheryl Scarlett
Research Officer: Mr Bob Morris

Principal Research Officer: Mr Patrick Regan
Executive Assistants: Ms Helen Collins; Ms Sophia Konti; Mr Peter McLay

CONDUCT OF THE INQUIRY

The inquiry was advertised nationally on 20 July 1996. The Committee received 45 submissions and 18 supplementary submissions for the Inquiry into the Subsidiary Agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of Australia concerning Long-line Tuna Fishing 1996, which are listed in Appendix 1. In relation to the Agreement on the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, the Committee received 9 submissions which are listed in Appendix 2.

The Committee examined 56 witnesses at 8 public hearings representing 37 individuals or organisations. These are listed in Appendix 4.

During the Inquiry the Committee held public hearings in Canberra on 29 August, 9 and 16 September and 10 and 15 October 1996, Hobart on 5 September, in Perth on 26 September and Port Lincoln and Adelaide on 27 September 1996. While visiting Port Lincoln the Committee inspected the southern bluefin tuna farms and the tuna cannery.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Committee wishes to thank all those who participated in the Inquiry by appearing as witnesses, providing written submissions and assisting with the arrangements for Committee meetings and inspections. The Committee is grateful for the interest shown and the co- operation and the advice provided.

Although the Committee was not able to take oral evidence from everyone who provided submissions or to cite all submissions in the report, the Committee considered all the information provided in determining the conclusions in the report.

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ABARE Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics

AFMA Australian Fisheries Management Authority

AFZ Australian fishing zone

AFZIS Australian Fishing Zone Information System

AMOU Australian Maritime Officers Union

ANCA Australian Nature Conservation Agency

ANSA Australian National Sportfishing Association

BRS Bureau of Resource Sciences

CCSBT Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna

CITES Convention for the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna

CPUE Catch per unit for effort

CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Reaearch Organisation

DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

DPIE Department of Primary Industries and Energy

ECTF East Coast Tuna Fishery

ECTUNAMAC East Coast Tuna Management Advisory Committee

EEZ EIS EPA 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone Environmental Impact Statement Environment Protection Agency

ESD ESP Act Ecologically Sustainable Development Endangered Species Protection Act 1992

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the Uni

FEM Fisheries Ecosystem Management

FFA Forum Fisheries Agency

FRRF Fisheries Resources & Research Fund

GFAA Game Fishing Association of Australia

GPS ICCAT IOTC Global Positioning System International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

ITQ IUCN Individual Transferable Quota International Union for Conservation of Nature

MAC Management Advisory Committee

MARPOL International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MSY Maximum Sustainable Yield

NFA National Food Authority

NIA National Interest Analysis

NSW New South Wales

NT Northern Territory

NZ New Zealand

OCS Offshore Constitutional Settlement

PNG Papua New Guinea

RTMP Real Time Monitoring Program

SBT Southern Bluefin Tuna

SPC TUNAMAC South Pacific Commission Tuna Management Advisory Committee

UNCED United Nations Conference on the Environment

UNCLOS VMS United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Vessel Monitoring System

VPA Virtual Population Analysis

SUMMARY

This report deals with the Subsiduary Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Japan Concerning Japanese Tuna Long-line Fishing 1996 and the Agreement for the Establishment of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties recommends that:

Bilateral arrangements

Recommendation 1:

the Commonwealth Government, in consultation with the relevant States ensures that restrictions placed on either bilateral vessels or Joint Venture vessels cannot be circumvented by interchange between such arrangements (Paragraph 2.33).

Recommendation 2:

the Commonwealth Government reviews the existing arrangements for potential foreign ownership of fishing licences within the Exclusive Economic Zone or Joint Venture arrangements which may jeopardise the potential to manage fish stocks in the Exclusive Economic Zone (Paragraph 2.34).

Duration of subsidiary agreement

Recommendation 3:

the subsidiary agreement on long-line tuna fishing with Japan be for a timeframe of at least two years (Paragraph 2.67).

Certificate system

Recommendation 4:

the Commonwealth Government raises the issue of the introduction of a certificate system for southern bluefin tuna within the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna and the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (Paragraph 2.92).

Indian Ocean Tuna Commission

Recommendation 5:

the Commonwealth Government:

(a)

notes Western Australia's particular interest in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission; and

(b)

facilitates their participation in the delegation to and any consultations relating to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission where possible (Paragraph 2.104).

Tasmanian waters

Recommendation 6:

Australia deposits an Instrument of Acceptance for the Agreement to Establish the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission on or before 2 December 1996 (Paragraph 2.112).

Recommendation 7:

the Commonwealth Government undertakes discussions with the Government of Japan to resolve the communication difficulties between the two fleets (Paragraph 3.41).

Recommendation 8:

the Commonwealth Government creates, as a matter of national consistency, an exclusion zone for the Bilateral and Joint Venture Japanese long-line fishing vessels around Tasmania of 50 nautical miles (Paragraph 3.46).

Recreational and game fisheries

Recommendation 9:

the Commonwealth Government undertakes a review of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 to determine if amendments are necessary to facilitate the management of all Australian fisheries to enable the recreational and game fishing industry to be treated as a commercial activity with particular reference to achieving optimum utilisation of the resource (Paragraph 3.60).

Recommendation10:

the Commonwealth Government undertakes a full assessment of the relative values of the recreational, game and long-line fisheries and their compatibility as a basis for determining the most appropriate management arrangements for the fishery and the degree of access to be allocated to each sector (Paragraph 3.60).

Recommendation 11:

the Commonwealth Government requires all Japanese vessels fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone cut free all marlin (alive or dead) without removal from the ocean (Paragraph 3.75).

Recommendation 12:

the Commonwealth Government undertakes a review of the existing tuna fishing technology to determine if modifications could be made to reduce the bycatch of non-target species (Paragraph 3.77).

Port Access

Recommendation 13:

the separation of port access from the subsidiary agreement but making port access subject to the continuation of Japan's membership of the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna and participation in the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (Paragraph 4.32).Environmental issues

Environment issues

Recommendation 14:

the Commonwealth Government formalises a process in which management plans relating to international fishing agreements require a specific written clearance from the Environment Protection Agency if they have significant potential environmental impacts (Paragraph 5.7).

Recommendation 15:

the Minister responsible for fisheries requests the Department of Primary Industries and Energy to provide all relevant information to the appropriate Commonwealth environment agencies for consideration of issues pertaining to the marine ecosystem (Paragraph 5.9).

Recommendation 16:

the Commonwealth Government reviews, as a matter of urgency, Commonwealth legislation to ensure that the nomination for the listing of fish as endangered or threatened is based on merit and not impeded by anomalies in the wording of the legislation or administrative procedures (Paragraph 5.20).

Recommendation 17:

the Commonwealth Government requests that State and Territory governments review, as a matter of urgency, their legislation to ensure that the nominations for the listing of fish as endangered or threatened is based on merit and not impeded by anomalies in the wording of their relevant legislation or administrative procedures (Paragraph 5.25).

Recommendation 18:

a specialist observer training program be introduced with additional emphasis on seabird research, the collection of data on seabird bycatch and the effectiveness of seabird bycatch mitigation methods (Paragraph 5.56).

Recommendation 19:

the Commonwealth Government produces an "easy to use guide" to the identification of seabirds which is to be issued to Japanese vessels including Joint Venture vessels at the time of the pre fishing inspection (Paragraph 5.56).

Recommendation 20:

the Commonwealth Government expedites research into eliminating bird bycatch as a matter of priority (Paragraph 5.76).

Recommendation 21:

the Commonwealth Government formally invites representatives from Japan and New Zealand to participate in the development of the Threat Abatement Plan (Paragraph 5.78)