Declaration of an Approved Wildlife Trade Operation Torres Strait Bêche-de-mer Fishery, August 2020 (Cth)

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

DECLARATION OF AN APPROVED WILDLIFE TRADE OPERATION TORRES STRAIT BÊCHE-DE-MER FISHERY, AUGUST 2020

I, Stephen oxley, First Assistant Secretary, Heritage, Reef and Wildlife Trade Division, as Delegate of the Minister for the Environment, hereby vary under paragraph 303FT(7)(a) of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) the declaration of an approved wildlife trade operation dated 18 December 2017 for the Commonwealth Torres Strait Bêche-de-mer Fishery as defined in the management regime in force under the Commonwealth Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984, the Torres Strait Fisheries Regulations 1985, such that the conditions specified in the Schedule to that declaration are added as follows:

7. The Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority must limit the take of the following species listed under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), from the Torres Strait Beche-de-mer Fishery to no more than: a) 15 tonnes of white teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva), and b) 0 tonnes of Black teatfish (Holothuria whitmaei). The Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority must report the amount of White Teatfish harvested by weight and where available, include the number of individuals, their lengths and locations of harvest, to the CITES Scientific Authority of Australia, as part of the annual reporting referred to in Condition 3. 8. The Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority must provide the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment with the preliminary results of the population survey for White Teatfish and Black Teatfish conducted in 2019 as soon as they become available, but no later than 18 September 2020, with the final survey results provided as soon as they become available in December 2020.