New management arrangements introduced to the Torres Strait Fisheries will regulate catches and ensure consistency in the way fisheries are managed for Torres Strait communities and Papua New Guinean fishers.
The new arrangements came into effect on 13 September 2011 and apply to the Finfish, Coral, Pearl Shell, Torres Strait Prawn, and Tropical Rock Lobster Fisheries.
In the Finfish Fishery the new management arrangements include size restrictions on mesh nets. This was a Traditional Inhabitants initiative to reduce incidental catch of protected species like Dugongs. Traditional net fishing in the Finfish Fishery is now restricted to a mesh net with a maximum of 100m in length, 2.5m in depth and mesh size of 10cm. Additionally, the prohibition on the harvest of live finfish has been removed to provide benefits through higher market prices. A new maximum legal size limit for the Leopard/Square Tail Coral Trout (Plectropomus areolatus) of 62cm has been introduced to ensure that large breeding individuals are protected.
The new arrangement in the Torres Strait Coral Fishery to prohibit the take of coral and live rock was introduced to avoid impacts on the fishery in the future, which could have resulted in the take of the species being unregulated.
In the Pearl Shell Fishery the definition of “pearl shell” has been expanded to include molluscs of the genus Pteria as well as the genus Pinctada. Pearl shell is collected live for the purposes of pearl culture farms and the new arrangement will ensure that the collection of pearl shell within the genus Pteria is managed sustainably.
A new logbook instrument enables electronic logbooks to be used in the Torres Strait Prawn, Tropical Rock Lobster and Finfish Fisheries as an alternative means for fishers to report their catch.
