{"id":"tas:sr-2016-081","name":"Marine Farming Planning Regulations 2016","slug":"marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016","collection":"regulation","jurisdiction":"tas","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"81 of 2016","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":186375,"registerId":"tas-tas:sr-2016-081-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-05","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title","content":"### 1 Short title\n\n> These regulations may be cited as the [Marine Farming Planning Regulations 2016](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/sr-2016-081) .","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement","content":"### 2 Commencement\n\n> These regulations take effect on 11 October 2016.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Interpretation","content":"### 3 Interpretation\n\n> In these regulations –[*\\[Regulation 3 Amended by S.R. 2017, No. 47, Applied:26 Jul 2017\\]*](/view/html/inforce/2017-07-26/sr-2017-047#GS4@EN)\n> \n> > [*\\[Regulation 3 Amended by S.R. 2017, No. 47, Applied:26 Jul 2017\\]*](/view/html/inforce/2017-07-26/sr-2017-047#GS4@EN) ***Act*** means the [Marine Farming Planning Act 1995](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1995-031) ;\n> \n> > [*\\[Regulation 3 Amended by S.R. 2017, No. 47, Applied:26 Jul 2017\\]*](/view/html/inforce/2017-07-26/sr-2017-047#GS4@EN) ***Director*** means the Director, Environment Protection Authority appointed under the [Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act 1994](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1994-044) .","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Fees and charges","content":"### 4 Fees and charges\n\n> > (1)  The application fees specified in [Part 1](#JS1@HS1@EN) of [Schedule 1](#JS1@EN) are prescribed as the application fees that are payable for the matters specified in that Part to which they respectively relate.\n> \n> > (2)  The charges specified in [Part 2](#JS1@HS2@EN) of [Schedule 1](#JS1@EN) are prescribed as the charges that are payable for the matters specified in that Part to which they respectively relate.\n> \n> > (3)  The annual lease fees specified in [Part 3](#JS1@HS3@EN) of [Schedule 1](#JS1@EN) are prescribed as the annual lease fees that are payable for the matters specified in that Part to which they respectively relate.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Exemption","content":"### 5 Exemption\n\n> > (1)  A person may apply to the Minister for an exemption from any fees or charges on or before the date on which the fees or charges are payable.\n> \n> > (2)  The Minister, by notice in writing to the person, may –\n> > \n> > > > (a) approve the application; or\n> > > \n> > > > (b) refuse to approve the application.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"6","sectionType":"section","heading":"Remission","content":"### 6 Remission\n\n> > (1)  A person may apply to the Minister for the remission of any fees or charges within 14 days after the fees or charges are paid.\n> \n> > (2)  The Minister, by notice in writing to the person, may –\n> > \n> > > > (a) approve the application; or\n> > > \n> > > > (b) refuse to approve the application.","sortOrder":5},{"sectionNumber":"7","sectionType":"section","heading":"Prescribed offences","content":"### 7 Prescribed offences\n\n> > (1)  The offences under the Act specified in column 1 of [Schedule 2](#JS2@EN) are the offences in respect of which infringement notices may be served under [Division 7 of Part 5](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1995-031#HP5@HD7@EN) of the Act.\n> \n> > (2)  The penalties specified in column 2 of [Schedule 2](#JS2@EN) are the penalties to be imposed by infringement notices for the corresponding offences specified opposite in column 1 of that Schedule.\n> \n> > (3)  A daily penalty in relation to an offence may not be imposed by an infringement notice in relation to that offence.","sortOrder":6},{"sectionNumber":"8","sectionType":"section","heading":"Special penalty for obstruction of execution of plans","content":"### 8 Special penalty for obstruction of execution of plans\n\n> [*\\[Regulation 8 Inserted by S.R. 2017, No. 47, Applied:26 Jul 2017\\]*](/view/html/inforce/2017-07-26/sr-2017-047#GS5@EN)\n> \n> > (1)  In the case of an offence against [section 91(1)](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1995-031#GS91@Gs1@EN) of the Act constituted by the holder of a lease or a sub-lease exceeding the assigned quantity of dissolved nitrogen, the special penalty to be imposed under [section 91(3)](/view/html/inforce/2026-04-12/act-1995-031#GS91@Gs3@EN) of the Act is a fine of $150 000 for each tonne of dissolved nitrogen that exceeds the assigned quantity of dissolved nitrogen.\n> \n> > (2)  For the purposes of [subregulation (1)](#GS8@Gs1@EN) , where the amount of dissolved nitrogen that exceeds the assigned quantity of dissolved nitrogen is not a whole number of tonnes, the special penalty is to be calculated on a pro rata basis.\n> \n> > (3)  For the purposes of this regulation –\n> > \n> > > ***assigned quantity of dissolved nitrogen*** means the quantity of the total permissible dissolved nitrogen output, attributable to marine farming operations in respect of a particular area or part of a particular area, that is the quantity apportioned, by a determination of the Director from time to time under a marine farming development plan, to the lessee or sub-lessee;\n> > \n> > > ***particular area*** means an area determined by the Director from time to time under a marine farming development plan.","sortOrder":7},{"sectionNumber":"SCHEDULE 1 - Fees and Charges","sectionType":"part","heading":"SCHEDULE 1 - Fees and Charges","content":"# SCHEDULE 1 - Fees and Charges SCHEDULE 1 - Fees and Charges\n\n[Regulation 4](#GS4@EN)","sortOrder":8},{"sectionNumber":"Part 1","sectionType":"part","heading":"Application fees","content":"# Part 1 Application fees\n\n| No. | Item | Amount (Fee units) |\n| 1. | Approval to prepare draft marine farming development plan | 735 |\n| 2. | Exemption from emergency plan | 400 |\n| 3. | Certificate of preference | 400 |\n| 4. | Lease | 1 140 |\n| 5. | Emergency lease | 400 |\n| 6. | Renewal of lease | 250 |\n| 7. | Transfer of lease | 450 |\n| 8. | Sub-lease | 150 |\n| 9. | Expansion of lease area | 1 090 |\n| 10. | Subdivision of lease area | 720 |","sortOrder":9},{"sectionNumber":"Part 2","sectionType":"part","heading":"Charges","content":"# Part 2 Charges\n\n| No. | Item | Amount (Fee units) |\n| 1. | Processing request to vary lease | 740 |\n| 2. | Processing request to vary lease area | 1 090 |\n| 3. | Processing request to amend marine farming development plan | 1 140 |","sortOrder":10},{"sectionNumber":"Part 3","sectionType":"part","heading":"Annual lease fees","content":"# Part 3 Annual lease fees\n\n| No. | Item | Amount (Fee units) |\n| 1. | Annual fees for lessees of shellfish farms – |  |\n|  | base fee | 90 |\n|  | plus additional fee per hectare of lease area | 45 |\n| 2. | Annual fees for lessees of finfish farms – |  |\n|  | base fee | 1 500 |\n|  | plus additional fee per hectare of lease area | 170 |","sortOrder":11},{"sectionNumber":"SCHEDULE 2 - Infringement Noti","sectionType":"part","heading":"SCHEDULE 2 - Infringement Notice Offences","content":"# SCHEDULE 2 - Infringement Noti SCHEDULE 2 - Infringement Notice Offences\n\n[Regulation 7](#GS7@EN)\n\n[*\\[Schedule 2 Amended by S.R. 2017, No. 68, Applied:18 Oct 2017\\]*](/view/html/inforce/2017-10-18/sr-2017-068#GS4@EN)\n\n|  | COLUMN 1 | COLUMN 2 |\n|  | OFFENCES | PENALTY (Penalty Units) |\n| 1. | Failing to take oath or make affirmation at hearing of Panel – section 12(4)(a) | 2 |\n| 2. | Failing to comply with emergency order – section 43(6) | 2 |\n| 3. | Failing to comply with provisions of emergency plan – section 45(6) | 2 |\n| 4. | Contravening or failing to comply with condition or restriction of lease – section 64(4) | 4 |\n| 5. | Failing to comply with notice to remove equipment, debris and fish stock – section 71(2) | 2 |\n| 6. | Placing equipment etc. or fish stock within lease area without approval – section 71(3) | 2 |\n| 7. | Sub-leasing without approval – section 74(1) | 2 |\n| 8. | Failing to comply with notice requiring delivery of lease – section 76(3) | 2 |\n| 9. | Interfering with surveyor performing survey – section 87(4) | 2 |\n| 10. | Acting contrary to marine farming development plan, emergency order or emergency plan – section 91(1)(a) | 4 |\n| 10A. | Impeding or obstructing execution of marine farming development plan, emergency plan or emergency order – section 91(1)(b) | 4 |\n| 10B. | Contravening condition of marine farming development plan, emergency plan, emergency order or determination – section 91(1)(c) | 4 |\n| 10C. | Contravening condition of lease – section 91(1)(d) | 4 |\n| 11. | Unlawfully taking, removing, disturbing or interfering with fish, marine plants, raft, structure or implement – section 92(1)(a) | 2 |\n| 12. | Unlawfully dredging, digging or dragging lease area – section 92(1)(b) | 2 |\n| 13. | Unlawfully causing harm or damage to lease area or other area or to equipment or fish stocks in such area – section 92(1)(c) | 2 |\n| 14. | Unlawfully depositing stone, ballast, rubbish or deleterious matter in lease area – section 92(2)(a) | 2 |\n| 15. | Unlawfully using explosive or toxic gas or toxic, poisonous or narcotic substance in lease area – section 92(2)(b) | 2 |\n| 16. | Unlawfully removing, destroying, damaging or interfering with beacon, buoy or mark used to indicate boundary of lease area – section 93(a) | 2 |\n| 17. | Unlawfully removing, destroying, damaging or interfering with light – section 93(b) | 2 |\n| 18. | Unlawfully removing, destroying, damaging or interfering with beacon, signal or light attached to raft or structure – section 93(c) | 2 |\n| 19. | Having rope, cable or other device securing marine farming equipment outside marine farming zone unless authorised – section 94(1)(a) | 4 |\n| 20. | Having marine farming equipment (other than rope, cable or other device securing marine farming equipment) outside lease area unless authorised – section 94(1)(b) | 4 |\n\nDisplayed and numbered in accordance with the *[Rules Publication Act 1953](/view/html/inforce/current/act-1953-050)*.\n\nNotified in the *Gazette* on 28 September 2016\n\nThese regulations are administered in the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment.","sortOrder":12}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains focused on its original purpose of setting fees, exemptions, and penalties for marine farming regulation. The 2017 amendment adding the nitrogen pollution penalty (Regulation 8) expanded the detail of environmental enforcement but did not shift the overall scope beyond administrative support for the parent Act."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 defined terms in the interpretation section (Act and Director)","Straightforward fee schedules in tables with minimal conditional logic","Simple administrative processes (apply → Minister decides → written notice)","No nested exceptions or complex cross-referencing beyond basic references to the parent Act","Single amendment inserted in 2017 adding Regulation 8 (nitrogen penalty) without complicating existing structure","Length is short—8 regulations plus 2 schedules","Clear separation of functions: fees in Schedule 1, offences in Schedule 2"],"plain_english_summary":"This legislation sets out the administrative rules for marine farming (aquaculture) in Tasmania. It covers three main things: **fees and charges** for leases and permits, **exemptions and refunds** for those fees, and **penalties** for breaking the rules.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- **Marine farmers** (people who farm fish, shellfish, or other sea creatures in Tasmanian waters)\n- **Lease holders** and people applying for leases\n- The **Minister** and **Director of the Environment Protection Authority** who make decisions about exemptions and environmental limits\n\n**What it does:**\n\n**1. Fees and charges (Schedule 1):**\n- Lists specific fees for applications (like applying for a lease, renewing it, or transferring it to someone else)\n- Sets charges for processing requests (like changing your lease area)\n- Sets annual fees for keeping your lease, with different rates for shellfish farms (cheaper) and finfish farms (more expensive, especially salmon farming)\n- Fees are measured in \"fee units\" (a standard way of setting fees that can be adjusted for inflation)\n\n**2. Exemptions and remissions:**\n- You can ask the Minister to **exempt** you from paying fees before they're due (if you're struggling financially or have other good reasons)\n- You can ask for a **remission** (refund) within 14 days after paying if you believe you shouldn't have paid\n- The Minister can say yes or no, but must give you the decision in writing\n\n**3. Penalties and offences:**\n- Lists 20 specific offences that can be dealt with by **infringement notices** (on-the-spot fines) rather than going to court\n- These include things like: failing to follow emergency orders, sub-leasing without permission, damaging lease markers, or having equipment outside your approved area\n- Fines range from 2 to 4 penalty units (a standard measure for fines)\n- Sets a special heavy penalty ($150,000 per tonne) for exceeding nitrogen pollution limits—this targets environmental damage from fish farming waste\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis is the \"nuts and bolts\" law that makes the Marine Farming Planning Act work in practice. Without these regulations, there would be no clear way to charge for leases, no process for financial hardship relief, and no streamlined system for penalising minor rule-breaking. The nitrogen pollution penalty is particularly significant because it directly addresses concerns about fish farms damaging water quality."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The regulations implement financial, administrative and enforcement details under the Marine Farming Planning Act—prescribing fees, charges, annual lease fees, exemption/remission processes, infringement penalties and a specific nitrogen penalty. The instrument does not itself amend the Act or expand subject‑matter beyond prescribing charges, penalties and procedural rules under the Act (see Regulations 4–8 and Schedules 1–2)."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple fee schedules and formulas (application fees, processing charges, annual lease fees with base + per‑hectare components) require administrative calculation and collection (Regulation 4; Schedule 1 Parts 1–3).","Ministerial discretion to approve or refuse fee exemptions and remissions, with strict application timing windows, creates case‑by‑case decision points and potential for uneven outcomes (Regulations 5–6).","Infringement notice regime links a long list of Act offences to fixed penalty units, necessitating cross‑reference to the Act and consistent penalty application (Regulation 7; Schedule 2).","A high, per‑tonne special penalty for exceeding assigned dissolved nitrogen (with pro rata calculation) imposes significant, quantity‑linked exposure and requires accurate measurement and apportionment (Regulation 8(1)–(3)).","Cross‑references to the Marine Farming Planning Act and Director determinations create dependency on external definitions and decisions (Regulation 3; Regulation 8).","Numerical penalties and fee units require ongoing administrative upkeep (calculation, indexing, enforcement) and data systems to track areas, hectares and nitrogen outputs (Schedules 1–2; Regulation 8)."],"plain_english_summary":"These regulations set the money and enforcement rules for marine farming: they prescribe application fees, charges and annual lease fees, allow the Minister to grant exemptions or remit fees, list offences that attract infringement notices with fixed penalties, and impose a per‑tonne special penalty for leases exceeding their assigned dissolved nitrogen. Applicants and lessees pay the fees; the Minister decides exemptions/remissions; the Director allocates dissolved nitrogen. The instrument therefore changes the administrative cost of operating marine farms and creates specific financial deterrents for non‑compliance."},"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Based on the available metadata, there is no indication of scope change from original intent. The regulations appear to have remained focused on their core purpose of governing marine farming planning processes since commencement in 2016, with the version current from October 2017 suggesting only minor amendments. However, the absence of substantive regulatory text limits confidence in this assessment."},"complexity_factors":["Regulations operate as subordinate legislation beneath a parent Act, requiring readers to cross-reference both documents to understand the full legal framework","Aquaculture planning involves technical environmental and spatial planning concepts that require domain knowledge","Multiple government agencies and approval pathways typically interact in marine farming regulation","The provided text is predominantly metadata — the actual regulatory provisions were not included, limiting full assessment of complexity","Tasmanian-specific marine zones and planning overlays add jurisdictional specificity"],"plain_english_summary":"Sets practical rules under the Marine Farming Planning Act for planning, approving and managing aquaculture in Tasmanian coastal waters. It covers application processes, public consultation, technical standards, decision timeframes, fees and reporting for marine farming development and leases.\n\nAffects aquaculture operators, applicants for leases or development plans, nearby communities and government agencies. It matters because it shapes industry growth, environmental protection and community interests in a major Tasmanian aquaculture sector."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016","history":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016/history","analysis":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/marine-farming-planning-regulations-2016/documents"}}