Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Management Plan Amendments 2025
Several amendments to the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Management Plan 2009 (TSPF Plan) have been drafted to bring it up to date with the current fishery management environment and remove old clauses that are no longer required.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) will hold meetings on Masig, Poruma and Ugar to explain the proposed changes, which are contained in the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Management Plan Amendments 2025.
In summary, the amendments:
- remove the requirement that a licence can only be granted or transferred to an individual Australian Citizen and allowing Australian Companies to hold licences
- clarify rules by changing the wording in the TSPF Plan to be clearer in what it requires
- move rules into the TSPF Plan that used to be in other legislative instruments that are in place for the fishery
- move some rules out of the TSPF Plan which are already included in the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984, or another legislative instrument. The management plan does not need to duplicate information in other legal documents.
Only one of these amendments will change the rules in the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery (TSPF), removing the requirement that a licence can only be granted or transferred to only be to a person who is an Australian Citizen.
An Australian Citizen, by definition, is an individual, which prevents a licence being issued to an incorporated company. Removing references to ‘Australian citizen’ will allow Australian companies to hold licences, which is common practice across other fisheries in Australia.
This change in the TSPF Plan is consistent with the Torres Strait Fisheries (Quotas for Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar)) Management Plan 2018.
The Torres Strait Prawn Management Advisory Committee, which includes five Torres Strait Islander industry members alongside commercial fishers and Government agency representatives, recommended that in addition to the formal public consultation period, the Masig, Poruma and Ugar communities be consulted directly regarding these changes. These three communities were chosen due to their close proximity to the TSPF fishing grounds.
During the community meetings, AFMA will outline the main changes proposed under the amendments. There will be space to ask questions and provide any feedback you may have.
Community meetings will be held on Masig on 10 November, and Poruma on 12 November 2025. The Ugar consultation is yet to be scheduled.
If you have any questions about the community visits, or Management Plan Amendments, please contact AFMA on 07 4069 1990 or fisheriesTI@afma.gov.au.