Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L01089:reg:20:p16
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2014L01089
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 20 (pt 16/33)
Character Range: 73997–77878

education.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             2          • Community education strategy and initiatives developed and implemented.                                                                     DoE, state governments, aquaria, community science groups and non-government organisations
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    • Continuation of volunteer dive surveys.

10 Current management practices
Management practices and measures other than those contained in this plan have been developed and are being implemented through a number of agencies and programs. These include Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) procedures and protocols, Department of Agriculture (DoA) policies and programs and state government programs.

These measures include the compulsory use of logbooks by commercial fishers to record incidental capture of grey nurse sharks and mechanisms to encourage recreational fishers to report interactions. There are also a number of observer programs in operation designed to provide fisheries-independent measures of grey nurse shark mortality in state and Commonwealth waters.

In July 2012, Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig, then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry released Australia's second National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (Shark-plan 2). Shark-plan 2 outlines how Australia will manage and conserve sharks, and ensure that Australia meets international conservation and management obligations. The plan identifies research and management actions across Australia for the long-term sustainability of shark populations, including actions to help minimise the impacts of fishing on sharks. Shark-plan 2 can be downloaded from the Department of Agriculture website at: www.daff.gov.au/fisheries/environment/sharks/sharkplan2. Shark-plan 2 was developed in conjunction with state, Northern Territory and Australian government agencies, and has been endorsed by the Shark-plan Implementation and Review Committee and the Australian Fisheries Management Forum.

The grey nurse shark is protected under the EPBC Act, and as such, it is an offence to kill, injure, take, trade, keep, or move any individual in Commonwealth waters without a permit. In addition, all listed threatened species are considered matters of national environmental significance (MNES), and any actions that are likely to have a significant impact on a MNES must be referred to the Australian government minister responsible for the environment for assessment and approval.

The environmental performance of Commonwealth, state and Northern Territory managed wild harvest fisheries is assessed under the EPBC Act. The EPBC Act requires that:

  • all Commonwealth managed and state wild capture marine fisheries with an export component be assessed to ensure they are being managed in an ecologically sustainable way

  • all Commonwealth managed fisheries are assessed to determine the impact of actions taken under a fishery management plan on matters of national environmental significance

  • all Commonwealth managed fisheries and any state-managed fisheries that operate in Commonwealth waters must be assessed to determine the impacts of fishing operations on cetaceans, listed threatened species and ecological communities, migratory species, and listed marine species under the EPBC Act.

The assessments consider