PZJA Standing Committee announces review of use of Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar) quota allocation in the Torres Strait
In line with the Torres Strait Fisheries (Quotas for Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar)) Management Plan 2018, the Protected Zone Joint Authority (PZJA) Standing Committee has appointed a team of independent consultants to conduct a review of the future arrangements of the Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar) quota allocation to Traditional Inhabitants from 16 island communities as well as the Northern Peninsular Area of the Torres Strait.
The purpose of the meetings is to listen and gather community opinions about the best way to use the Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar) quota allocation to get the most benefit for local people.
The meetings will be held during late August and early September 2024, are being managed on behalf of the PZJA by the Torres Strait Regional Authority, who will provide advance notice of meeting times and venues via the Torres News, posters on Ailan, IBIS screens, Facebook, and fishers’ networks.
The PZJA Standing Committee has appointed a professor in ocean law and governance, a fisheries economist, and an expert in fishing quota allocation management systems to the review team. Professor Alistair McIlgorm and Distinguished Professor Stuart Kaye OAM, from the University of Wollongong’s Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), and Tony Craig, Managing Director of the NZ fishing industry consultancy, Terra Moana.
The review team are encouraging community members to have their say and attend the meetings.
An interim report outlining the review team’s findings from the consultations is scheduled for delivery in the PZJA standing committee in mid-October. A final report is expected later this year.
In 2023, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences estimated the Tropical Rock Lobster (Kaiar) fishery had an annual value of $16.1 million in 2021–22 and has an even greater socio-economic and cultural value to the Torres Strait community.