South East Trawl (SET) vessels will have to record their activity using electronic logbooks (e-logs) from 1 May.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) has stipulated that all SET vessels that have fished more than 50 days in either the 2016 or 2017 fishing seasons will be required to use e-logs to report on their fishing operations.
E-logs will allow SET fishers to report their fishing operations, including daily catch, discarded fish and protected species interaction data, in real time and allow this data to be received by AFMA in near real time, closer to actual fishing events, said South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA), whose members have resolved to support the move.
Cost-savings
The e-logs are expected to help provide accurate data for research and management of the SET, as well as provide cost savings to fishers by eliminating the manual data re-entry component associated with paper logbooks - currently estimated to cost AUD$18 per day.
Operators will now be required to use a reporting platform through an AFMA-approved e-log programme.
SETFIA said more than 62% of fishing vessels are already voluntarily using e-logs to provide their catch and fishing information to AFMA.
E-log software is provided by private companies and there are currently two Australian providers.
