Andrew Wilkie
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has been advised in writing by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority there was not a “literal reading’’ of the law when the fishing quota for the super trawler was set.
“AFMA has as good as admitted the fishing quota for the MV Margiris is not worth the paper it’s written on so the quota needs to be ripped up and the whole assessment process started again,’’ Mr Wilkie said.
“In light of this revelation the MV Margiris may as well turn around and return to where it came from.’’
Last week Mr Wilkie wrote to the Commonwealth Ombudsman with concerns about the legality of the process that determined the super trawler’s quota, which has been awarded to Seafish Tasmania.
His concerns focused on a teleconference of AFMA’s South East Management Advisory Committee on March 26 this year when a recommendation was finalised on the 2012/13 total allowable catch for the small pelagic fishery.
Seafish Tasmania’s Gerry Geen is a member of SEMAC and it’s noted in the Chair’s Summary of the teleconference that Mr Geen declared a “direct conflict of interest’’ in the setting of the fishing quota.
In response to a request from the Ombudsman, AFMA this week wrote to Mr Wilkie and admitted that a literal reading of the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 would preclude almost all members of SEMAC from most decisions, so instead a “`standing arrangement’’ was followed.
“This is most worrying because AFMA must read the Act literally and comply with it because to do otherwise would be unlawful,’’ Mr Wilkie said.
“AFMA also asserts in its letter to me that the authority has developed some sort of “standing arrangement” to avoid taking the Act literally.
“But this raises more questions than it answers. When was this “standing arrangement” decided and where is it recorded? Was it by an earlier generation of committee members and is the arrangement acceptable to the current membership? Has the current membership ever discussed the matter? And what right does the membership even have to establish such arrangements when the Act is so clear?
“In light of AFMA’s letter, I’ve written again to the Commonwealth Ombudsman to say I’m now firmly of the view the authority failed to comply with the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 when Mr Geen remained in the March 26 SEMAC teleconference and was not explicitly authorised by the committee to stay.
“In other words AFMA acted unlawfully in this instance and that makes the associated quotas invalid, including that allocated to Seafish Tasmania which the company is relying on to fill the super trawler Margiris.”
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