Senator O'Brien asked the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, upon notice, on 10 September 2003:

(1) What companies have been issued with a licence to fish in the Heard and McDonald Islands Fishery.

(2) In relation to each company: (a) what is its registered address; and (b) when was the licence issued and, if applicable, renewed.

(3) (a) What total allowable catch, by species, is each licence holder allocated; and (b) in relation to each licence holder, have catch limits been varied; if so, when and what is the nature of the variation.

Senator Ian Macdonald (Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) —The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd, Kailis and France Pty Ltd, Petuna Sealord Pty Ltd, Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd and Everfresh Pty Ltd.

(2) (a) The addresses of the companies are respectively:

(b) Statutory Fishing Rights for this Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) Fishery were issued during 2002 under the HIMI Fishery Management Plan 2002. These are ongoing fishing rights and not subject to renewal.

(3) (a) Each Statutory Fishing Right issued in the Fishery entitles the holder of that right to an annual percentage of the total allowable catch for the Fishery for each target species.

Table 1 shows the percentage of Statutory Fishing Rights which were granted to each eligible company and their respective share of the total allowable catch for toothfish and icefish for the current (2003-04) fishing season.

Table 1

(b) A stock assessment for the Fishery is conducted every year to set the catch limits for both target species. Since the commencement of the Fishery, the total allowable catch for toothfish has been around 3000 tonnes (+/- 500 tonnes). The limit for icefish varies considerably depending on environmental factors and has been as low as 800 tonnes and as high as 3000 tonnes.

Table 2 shows the percentage of Statutory Fishing Rights which were granted to each eligible company in the initial allocation (2002-03) for the Fishery and their respective share of the total allowable catch for toothfish and icefish for the season.

Table 2

Any transfers that have occurred between the initial (2002-03) allocations and the current (2003-04) allocations are commercial-in-confidence.