Sardine Management Plan

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:04): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding sardine management. Will the minister inform the chamber about any changes to the way our state's important sardine fishery is managed?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for his question. The South Australian sardine fishery is the state's largest fishery by volume and is hugely important to the state's tuna industry, where most sardines produced by the fishery end up as feed for ranched tuna.

The sardine sector is an important part of the Port Lincoln and Eyre Peninsula communities. I was pleased to have had the opportunity earlier this year, during country cabinet, to witness sardine vessels being unloaded, which was actually quite an amazing sight. It really highlighted the sheer volume of catch for this fishery, and was also a really good chance to meet with some of the great people who dedicate themselves to it.

The sardine fishery has been managed under a quota management system, with an annual total allowable catch, since 1995, with the fishery primarily operating in the Spencer Gulf. Over the past decade or so, gradual changes to the management of the fishery have allowed for increased fishing outside Spencer Gulf, which has had a range of benefits for the fishery.

PIRSA is now working through the process of formalising arrangements for the fishery to operate with a separate total allowable catch in the Gulf St Vincent, as has been called for by industry for some time, with the anticipated benefits from this including fishing costs to be reduced, product quality improvement, increased business security and operational flexibility, as well as providing for protection of stocks in the Spencer Gulf.

Last year, a new management plan for the fishery commenced. This plan was consulted with industry and included rules for spatial management for three fishing zones: the Spencer Gulf zone, the Gulf St Vincent zone and an outside zone. The plan noted that legislative amendments would be required to formalise the arrangements, which have previously operated under changes to licence conditions. That work is now well underway and will mean that allocation of separate quota entitlements for the Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent will soon be a reality, with the current gulf zone units to be revoked and a separate 14,000 GSV units and 14,000 Spencer Gulf units to be allocated across all sardine fishery licences.

The changes do not increase the total allowable catch for the fishery, but instead the structure under which quota units are allocated to licence holders, with total allowable catch and spatial management arrangements guided by the harvest strategy, based on spawning biomass and monitoring of fish size in both gulfs.

I am pleased that the state government has been able to positively respond to calls for change from this important and innovative sector, with the Executive Officer of the South Australian Sardine Industry Association, Claire Webber, saying, 'The new GSV zone will reduce trivial licensing conditions and gives industry a new level of certainty to access sustainable sardine resources in that area.' It is a positive step for a sector which plays a crucial role in our state's seafood industry and the wider Port Lincoln community.