Under the Australian Government’s 2011-12 Budget released on 9 May, the AFMA budget has been identified at $43.3 million.
Included in the budget is a $2.2 million reduction from the previous year’s funding levels due to efficiencies in responding to illegal foreign fishing in northern waters and whole-of-government efficiency measures.
AFMA Chief Executive Officer Dr James Findlay said, “Responsible management of the AFMA budget is essential to good governance and pursuit of the agency’s legislative objectives. Industry and other stakeholders will no doubt be interested to know what the 2011-12 budget means for AFMA functions and what we are doing to maintain and improve our cost-effectiveness.”
The coming year will see AFMA return to a balanced budget outcome following the completion of business improvements and information technology projects funded from the surpluses of previous years.
Dr Findlay said, “Our stakeholders will be aware that AFMA, in close collaboration with the Commonwealth Fisheries Association (CFA), has already been actively working to improve cost-effectiveness through measures such as the consolidation of Management Advisory Committees (MACs), implementation of GoFish and trials of e-logs, e-monitoring and co-management.”
The costs to be recovered from industry through levies and fees for service are expected to be similar to 2010-11, with net recoveries expected to be around $13.2 million. “Efforts within the AFMA/CFA Cost Efficiency Working Group are seeking to identify further opportunities such as increased use of fee-for-service and moving from trials to full implementation of e-logs and e-monitoring where appropriate,” Dr Findlay said.
