Sub-Antarctic Resource
Assessment Group
(SARAG)
Final MINUTES
SARAG 55
16-17 May 2017
SARAG Chair, Prof John Buckeridge, c/o Sarah Kirkcaldie, Executive officer, PO Box 7051, Canberra BC, ACT 2610
Tel: (02) 6225 5304 Fax: (02) 6225 5439 Email:
SUB- ANTARCTIC RESOURCE ASSESSMENT GROUP (SARAG)
CHAIR: Prof John Buckeridge
Date: 16-17 May 2017
Venue: Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Highway, Kingston
Attendance
MembersProf John Buckeridge, Chair
Dr Malcolm Haddon, CSIRO
Dr Rich Hillary, CSIRO
Dr Philippe Ziegler, AAD
Dr Dirk Welsford, AAD
Mr Martin Exel, Industry Member
Mr Malcolm McNeil, Industry Member
Ms Jo Fisher, AFMA
Ms Sarah Kirkcaldie, Executive Officer, AFMA
*first day only
#research agenda items only
^agenda item 10-12 only / Observers
Dr Heather Patterson, ABARES
Mr Rhys Arangio, Industry
Dr Jemery Day, CSIRO*
Mr Peter Neville, SouthMAC Chair
Mr Trent Timmiss, AFMA
Dr Paul Burch, AAD#
Mr Dale Maschette, AAD#
Mr Peter Yates, AAD#
Dr Tony Smith^
Introduction
Agenda item 1 - Preliminaries
The fifty fifth meeting of the Sub-Antarctic Resource Assessment Group (SARAG 55) was opened at 9:00 am on 16 May 2017 by the Chair, Professor John Buckeridge.
1.1 Declaration of interests
Professor Buckeridge asked members and observers to declare their professions and any conflict of interests that they may have on specific agenda items.
Professor Buckeridge declared he has no pecuniary interest in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Dr Haddon advised he is employed by CSIRO and is not undertaking specific research projects in relation to Sub-Antarctic fisheries, although he does provide advice to other researchers in relation to stock assessments, particularly for the Macquarie Island Toothfish Fishery (MITF). Dr Haddon is also a member on the Northern Prawn Fishery Resource Assessment Group, the Great Australian Bight Resource Assessment Group (GABRAG) and the scientific member on Sub-Antarctic Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC). Dr Haddon advised that he has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Dr Hillary advised that he is employed by CSIRO and is the Principal Investigator of the MITF stock assessment. He also advised that he is a member of AFMA’s Southern Bluefin Tuna Management Advisory Committee (SBTMAC) and Tropical Tuna RAG. Dr Hillary advised that he has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Mr McNeill advised he is the Managing Director of Australian Longline P/L which holds various fishing rights in, and operates vessels in the sub-Antarctic fisheries and New and Exploratory fisheries under the jurisdiction of CCAMLR. Mr McNeill further advised he is a member on SouthMAC, Board member of the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators (COLTO) and member of the Executive Committee of Tasmanian Polar Network. Mr McNeill was not aware of any investigation or prosecution action by AFMA against his Company or of any legal action taken by his Company against AFMA.
Mr Exel advised that he is the General Manager, Environment and Policy, Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd. Austral Fisheries P/L owns Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs) in the Australian sub-Antarctic fisheries and waters under the jurisdiction of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Mr Exel also declared that he is a Director of the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), Member and public officer of the Commonwealth Fisheries Association (CFA), member of the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA), Deputy Chair of the Great Australian Bight Industry Association, Member of Coral Sea Fishers Association and Board member of COLTO. Mr Exel further advised that he is a member of the “National Benefit Assessment Panel” for the Marine National Facility (the RV Investigator). He was not aware of any investigation or prosecution action by AFMA against his Company or of any legal action taken by his Company against AFMA.
Dr Welsford advised that he is employed by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) and no research grants contribute towards his salary. Dr Welsford advised that AAD get core funding but also seek grants from Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) and AFMA. However, members noted that Dr Welsford salary was not connected to the FRDC grants. Dr Welsford further advised he is the Scientific Committee representative to CCAMLR, Chair of the Working Group for Fish Stock Assessments (WG-FSA) and a member on the Torres Strait Scientific Advisory Committee.
Dr Ziegler advised that he is employed by AAD and is the Fishery scientist responsible for HIMIF work including the HIMI stock assessments. Dr Ziegler has no pecuniary interest in the sub-Antarctic and his salary is not connected to any research grants noting that he is a co-investigator on a FRDC project and future FRDC projects.
Ms Fisher advised she is employed by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) as the Manager for sub-Antarctic fisheries at AFMA. Ms Fisher advised she has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Ms Kirkcaldie advised she is employed by AFMA as a Senior Management Officer and advised that she is also the Executive Officer for Sub-Antarctic Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC) and the Southern Bluefin Tuna MAC (SBTMAC). Ms Kirkcaldie advised that she has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Mr Timmiss advised he is employed by AFMA as the Senior Manager of the Tuna and Antarctic fisheries and advised that he is a member on SBTMAC and Tropical Tuna MAC. Mr Timmiss advised that he has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Dr Patterson advised she is an employee of the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources and is the Editor of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Fishery Status Reports. Dr Patterson noted that she had no pecuniary interest in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Mr Arangio advised that he is an observer to SARAG. Mr Arangio is employed by Austral Fisheries P/L that owns Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs) in the Australian sub-Antarctic fisheries and waters under the jurisdiction of Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Mr Arangio further advised he is the secretary of COLTO. He was not aware of any investigation or prosecution action by AFMA against his Company or of any legal action taken by his Company against AFMA.
Dr Day advised he is an observer to SARAG and a CSIRO employee and was undertaking work on the MITF stock assessment. Dr Day advised that he has no pecuniary interests in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Mr Neville advised that he is the Chair of the SouthMAC, Chair of the Northern Territory Barramundi Fishery, Chair FRDC’s recreational fishing sub-program and Principal of P.J Neville and Associates. Mr Neville advised that he has no pecuniary interest in the sub-Antarctic fisheries.
Mr Exel, Mr McNeill and Mr Arangio declared their interest under agenda items 6-27 and left the room. The group then discussed whether the Industry members and observer needed to leave the room for any agenda items; it was agreed that as their input was essential to the agenda items that they should remain in the meeting room for all discussions noting that no recommendations/decisions being made.
1.2 Apologies and observers
Members noted that Dr Patterson would be arriving slightly late to SARAG and that Dr Paul Burch, Mr Dale Maschette and Mr Peter Yates will be joining the meeting for agenda item 12 only.
1.3 Agenda
Members noted that an update on Marine Stewardship Council will be provided under agenda item 25. Members will also discuss the recently released draft Commonwealth fisheries Harvest Strategy, Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy and National Plan of Action for seabirds under other business.
SARAG adopted the agenda with amendments (Attachment 1)
Agenda item 2 – Adoption of minutes from SARAG 54 and November teleconference
The draft minutes from SARAG 54 were circulated for comment on 29 September 2016. No comments were received and the final minutes from SARAG 54 were adopted as a true and accurate record of the discussions.
The draft minutes from the November teleconference were circulated on 15 December 2016. Comments were received from Dr Philippe Ziegler. These comments were incorporated and the final minutes from the November teleconference were adopted as a true and accurate record of the discussions.
Members noted that the minutes from SARAG 55 would be circulated as soon as possible and that members would be given two weeks to provide comments. The minutes will then be finalized and sent to the AFMA Commission.
Agenda item 3 – Actions arising from SARAG 54
SARAG discussed the status of action arising items from SARAG 54.
Actions arising from SARAG 54
Item / Action arising / Status1 / Senate submission - Industry to provide their submission to senate enquiry to members / Members were provided with the link to the industry submission to the Senate Enquiry into the Southern Ocean.
2 / Toothfish model - CSIRO and AAD to discuss and develop a scoping paper of the cost/benefits of developing a new Toothfish stock assessment model. / Members noted that a paper will be provided at the SARAG meeting in early 2018 (Action arising 1)
3 / MITF stock assessment - CSIRO and AFMA to discuss timing of MITF stock assessment and circulate outcomes of discussion to members. / Members noted that the timeline for the MITF stock assessment will be discussed under agenda item 6.
4 / MITF benthic impact - AAD to re-submit project to journal and if it is not accepted the final report will be presented at SARAG 55 provide a summary of findings of the benthic impacts at MITF. / Members noted that this item would be discussed under agenda item 7.
5 / HIMI - AAD agreed to circulate a document that briefly summarises what has been looked at to explain why the Toothfish catch rates could be low in 2016, any outcomes and what is going to be looked at in the future. / SARAG noted that the summary was circulated on 9 March 2017 and would be discussed under agenda item 10.
6 / Australian/French scientific workshop - AAD attempting to organise a joint workshop between Australia and France. It was agreed that AAD and Industry would discuss options for funding the workshop and AAD would attempt to discuss with the French in the margins at CCAMLR 2016. / SARAG noted that this item would be discussed under agenda item 23.
7 / HIMI RSTS - Industry agreed to undertake another RSTS in Evitas / SARAG thanked Industry for undertaking the additional RSTS that was completed in September 2016.
8 / ERA/ERM - Demersal Trawl - AAD agreed to provide CSIRO with the most recent assessment for skates and rays. / Members noted the most recent skates/ray assessment would be discussed under agenda item 14.
9 / ERA/ERM - Midwater Trawl - AFMA and AAD to agree which data sources were the most accurate for catch and effort data, observer data and Threatened, Endangered and Protected (TEP) species interactions and report back to CSIRO. / AFMA provided CSIRO with the most accurate catch and effort data for TEP species.
10 / 3 trawler limit - AFMA management to consider members views regarding the removal of the 3 trawler limit and report back to the next meeting. / Members noted that the 3 trawler limit will be discussed at the SouthMAC meeting on 18 May 2017.
11 / Offal discharge trial - industry to provide a more detailed proposal out of session for consideration. / SARAG noted that Industry decided not to pursue the trial this season given the 3 seabird limit was reached for 2 vessels in the 2015/16 season.
12 / Macrourid identification - training to be provided at observer workshop and AFMA will inform industry if fish samples will be required. / Members noted that Industry provided samples for the observer workshop that was held in December 2016. SARAG thanked industry for providing the samples.
13 / Retrieval of lost fishing gear outside of longline season - AFMA and AAD to consider the request from industry and report back to industry. / Members noted that the Statutory Fishing Right conditions were amended to allow retrieval of lost gear outside the longline season. Industry noted that over 100kms of lost longline gear was retrieved in the 2015/16 season.
Agenda item 4 – Correspondence
SARAG noted the following correspondence which had been received out-of-session since the last meeting in September 2016:
· An email dated 5 September 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie seeking input on the draft Ecological Risk Management Guide;
· An email dated 14 September 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie regarding AFMA collecting more information about gear and quota Statutory Fishing Right prices;
· An email dated 22 September 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie providing supplementary information about the Australian Continuous Improvement Group (ACIG) review, its main recommendations and how the Guide addresses them.
· An email dated 29 September 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie seeking comments on the draft SARAG 54 minutes
· An email dated 13 October 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie regarding the teleconference to be held on 3 November 2016;
· An email dated 15 December 2016 from Sarah Kirkcaldie seeking comments on the draft teleconference minutes;
· An email dated 9 February 2017 from Sarah Kirkcaldie seeking support for an FRDC Expression of Interest for a project on stock connectivity of Antarctic Toothfish;
· An email dated 9 March 2017 from Sarah Kirkcaldie attaching the draft AFMA Bycatch Strategy which is an operational fisheries management paper to guide AFMA’s response to bycatch issues across Commonwealth fisheries;
· An email dated 31 March 2017 from Sarah Kirkcaldie seeking preliminary comments on an FRDC Expression of Interest Application (Stock Connectivity of Antarctic Toothfish); and
· An email dated 7 April 2017 from Jo Fisher seeking SARAG comments on the draft HIMI Ecological Risk Assessments for the demersal trawl, midwater trawl and longline fisheries.
Agenda item 5 - Fishing operations update
Mr McNeill, Mr Arangio and Mr Exel provided SARAG with verbal updates on fishing operations in the HIMIF, MITF and CCAMLR New and Exploratory fisheries.
Mr Arangio advised that the Atlas Cove started icefish fishing at the beginning of the 2016/17 season and was getting good catches. The vessel then returned to port to unload and headed back down in late December/January where the catches were not as good. The Company decided to return to port and stayed there until returning to do the Random Stratified Trawl Survey (RSTS) when the vessel caught the remainder of the Mackerel Icefish total allowable catch. The vessel recorded the highest catch of Mackerel Icefish during the RSTS and the third highest catch of Patagonian Toothfish. Mr Arangio stated that the Corinthian Bay and Isla Eden started longline fishing at the start of April and the Atlas Cove started on 20th April after the RSTS was completed. SARAG noted that the catches were slow with about 150g/hook which is similar to the catches mid last year.