Commercial Fishing Industry

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister inform the chamber about the government's electronic catch and disposal record project for the commercial fishing industry?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:02): A key component for the management of our precious aquatic resources is ensuring of course that only a certain amount of a species is removed from the water. This ensures that there are plenty of fish left to breed, and maintains the sustainability of our fish stocks. To monitor these quota amounts, commercial fishers are required to complete a catch and disposal record at the end of each trip and forward this information to PIRSA.

Currently, there are still many commercial fisheries who still submit catch and disposal records to PIRSA through a paper-based system, and to enter the information from these records into the relevant systems and ensure that quotas are managed appropriately requires significant time and resources. With the department receiving over 15,000 paper catch and disposal records a year, it was important that a solution was developed to improve the efficiency of this process.

Recently, PIRSA has committed to undertaking a 12-month project to improve the submission of catch and disposal records for the commercial fishing sector. At the end of this process, all quota-managed fisheries will be able to submit catch and disposal records electronically. This digitised system will be beneficial to both stakeholders and PIRSA in managing our precious marine resources.

This project will result in significant efficiency improvements for industry, and will increase the integrity of the quota management process. As an example, currently the paper-based process can take up to eight days from when the fisher completes their catch and disposal record, submits it to my department and it is entered into the system. This project will see this time significantly reduced to near real-time submissions.

The lack of real-time reporting and the need for manual processes to integrate data from different systems are creating an unnecessary administrative burden on industry as well as on government. This project will enable PIRSA to keep track with other jurisdictions, such as the commonwealth, whose fisheries are well advanced in their digital applications such as for licensing and quota management.

The outcomes of this initiative will result in further benefits to industry, including: near to real-time reporting; improved customer interface; ability to access up-to-date quota balances; improved data integrity; removal of manual data entry errors; more effective management of sector quotas; possibly cost savings as a result of the reduction in resources required to process paper-based forms; and the ability to expand the service in the future as needs and technology dictate.

The commercial fisheries that will be included as part of this project will be: marine scale fish; blue crab; northern zone rock lobster (noting, of course, that southern zone rock lobster already submit their data electronically); central, southern and western zone abalone; sardine; West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent prawn; vongole; and pipi.

To provide industry with flexibility in this process and allow them to consider the most appropriate digital solutions for their specific circumstances, they will be provided with several options from which to choose. These options include submission through PIRSA's commercial fishing app, submission through a third-party provider of their choosing, or submission through the PIRSA website and myPIRSA portal.

The government will be investing approximately $720,000 over the next 12 months to ensure the project's success. My department will be consulting with all the fisheries involved to ensure the success of the transition to this new digital phase for the sector.

I look forward to further improving the services that are available as we implement digital transformation across the sector. Importantly, this project, the first step in digital transformation, is urgently required to meet the growing needs and expectation of industry with respect to red-tape reduction and operational efficiencies.