Public comment: Fishery Management Paper Number 14 – AFMA’s Approach to Ecological Risk Management and its supporting Guide to AFMA’s Ecological Risk Management Framework

Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) Management is currently undertaking a review of Fishery Management Paper Number 14 (FMP 14) – AFMA’s Approach to Ecological Risk Management and its supporting Guide to AFMA’s Ecological Risk Management Framework.

FMP 14 - AFMA’s Approach to Ecological Risk Management sets out the AFMA’s policy for undertaking Ecological Risk Assessments (ERAs) and administering Ecological Risk Management (ERM) in pursuit of its fishery management objectives, particularly Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD).

The Guide to AFMA’s Ecological Risk Management Framework is an overview of AFMA’s Ecological Risk Management (ERM) framework and a high-level guide for developing and implementing its processes at the fishery and Agency level. 

The primary ecological sustainability objectives that AFMA pursues via Ecological Risk Management (ERM) are:

• To ensure that fishing (in Commonwealth commercial fisheries) does not reduce any commercial or bycatch species populations (that is, discrete biological units, commonly referred to as stocks in the BP and HSP) to or below a level at which the risk of recruitment impairment is unacceptably high.
• Where such fishing impacts have occurred to rebuild species populations to above that level to the extent fisheries management is able to do so.
• To minimise fishing-related impacts on general bycatch and EPBC Act-listed species by ensuring the exploitation of fisheries resources is consistent with the principles of ESD.
• To ensure broader habitat security for non-living ecological components.

In pursuing these objectives AFMA applies the precautionary principle in particular the need to have regard to the impact of fishing activities on non-target species and the long-term sustainability of the marine environment.

The policy and guide have been updated through AFMA’s Ecological Risk Management Steering Group (ERMSG) to address criticisms of performance, improve efficiency and be up to date with latest approaches in the implementation of risk management.

In summary key changes include:

• Updated objectives to be more aligned with the current Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy (CFSHP), Commonwealth Fisheries Bycatch Policy (CFBP) and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
• Updated guidance for when Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) reassessments are to be completed.
• Defining more streamlined fishery management strategy requirements.
• Updated methodological approaches to align with updated definitions in the guiding CFHSP, CFBP and take account of new automated ERA approach.
• Updated templates for Bycatch, Research and Data and Monitoring strategies.

If you have any feedback or comments on the drafts, please provide them to policycomment@afma.gov.au by COB 31 July 2023.