Announcement date
19 April 2024
Link to announcement-
Mandatory Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) for commercial fishers in Australian Marine Parks | Australian Marine Parks (parksaustralia.gov.au)
Problem being addressed
The problem examined in this Impact Analysis (IA) is current surveillance measures in Australian Marine Parks are insufficient for monitoring commercial fisher compliance with park management rules, and the consequential potential for non-compliance having a negative impact on the marine ecology and Marine Park values.
The success of Australian Marine Parks depends largely on effective compliance. However, their sheer size and remoteness presents a significant challenge for enforcing marine park rules. For the commercial fishing sector, effective compliance involves prevention, deterrence, and detection of illegal fishing. Detection of activity undertaken by the commercial fishing sector in Australian Marine Parks relies on the ability to know where and when commercial boats are fishing. Critical to achieving this is adequate surveillance coverage.
The difficulty for the Director of National Parks (the Director) to achieve adequate surveillance coverage in Australian Marine Parks is driven by:
- the high costs of vessel and aerial based patrols;
- the limitations of vessel and aerial based patrols, including their spatial and temporal limitations; and
- the large proportion of commercial fishing vessels operating in Australian Marine Parks who do not provide location data to the Director.
Proposal
The IA considers three new policy options compared to the status quo (no policy change):
Option 1 - Universal Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS). The introduction of a new regulation requiring commercial fishing vessels operating in or transiting Australian Marine Parks to have an VMS unit installed;
Option 2 - Manual Reporting. The introduction of a requirement for commercial fishing vessels operating in or transiting Australian Marine Parks to manually report their fishing locations to the Director;
Option 3 - Increased Surveillance. An expansion to the Director’s current aerial and vessel-based surveillance program to capture all activity of commercial fishing vessels operating in or transiting Australian Marine Parks.
The IA recommends the ‘Universal VMS’ option as the least cost option that best meets the Director’s objective. Incorporating feedback received through consultation, the Director’s chosen implementation pathway has been designed to complement fisheries management requirements, and where possible, avoid imposing additional burdens on fishers by allowing time-bound exemptions where jurisdictions are progressing to VMS implementation.
Assessed Impact Analysis outcome
Exemplary
Assessment comments
The Department has presented an IA of a high standard that includes:
- A well-defined problem section outlining the scale and scope of the issue, supported by international research and analysis.
- Establishing the need for government intervention by describing the expected impact of maintaining the status quo (no policy change option) and presenting a range of alternative policy options.
- Robust estimates of the regulatory cost to industry and indicative quantification of ecological benefits.
Regulatory burden
The Department estimates a total regulatory cost over 10 years of $7.1 million on the basis of 580 affected (in-scope) commercial fishing vessels and per vessel VMS purchase and installation cost of $4,200 and annual ‘airtime’ cost of $800.