On 29 January 2010, Porbeagle, Shortfin Mako and Longfin Mako sharks were listed as migratory species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). 

The listing is a legal requirement under the EPBC Act following the inclusion of the species on Appendix II to the international Convention on Migratory Species.

Under the EPBC Act, it is an offence to kill injure or take a member of a migratory species. 

The EPBC Act provides an exemption to these offence provisions where species are caught in accordance with management arrangements accredited under Part 13 of the Act.  Fishers will not be committing an offence when a listed migratory species is killed, injured, traded or taken, where they are acting in accordance with accredited management arrangements.

To be accredited, management arrangements must require all persons engaged in fishing to take all reasonable steps to ensure that members of a listed migratory species are not killed or injured as a result of fishing. 

The Delegate for the Minister for the Environment Heritage and the Arts has reviewed existing accreditations and decided that they are adequate following the listing of these sharks as migratory species. 

A key issue for commercial fishers that has been addressed is whether sharks that are already dead need to be returned to the sea (it is clear that live-caught sharks must be returned). So long as management arrangements require all reasonable steps to be taken to avoid their take and provide for adequate compliance measures to ensure live-caught sharks are released without further harm, sharks that are dead on capture can be retained.

Fishers catching these sharks must include them in their logbooks, whether the sharks are retained or released. 

Logbook data, along with other fisheries data, will provide important information on levels of interaction to improve understanding of the species in Australian waters and to indicate whether additional measures are required, as part of the ongoing assessment process, to minimise levels of mortality. In line with the Memorandum of Understanding between AFMA and DEWHA, AFMA will report catches to DEWHA on a quarterly basis.

For further information, please contact Paul Ryan, Manager, Environmental Assessments on  (02) 6225 5366  (02) 6225 5366 or paul.ryan@afma.gov.au.