{"id":"F2022L00176","name":"Torres Strait Fisheries (Bêche-de-mer) Management Instrument 2022","slug":"torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":441228,"registerId":"F2022L00176-fast-fetch-1775956597492","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Torres Strait Fisheries (Bêche-de-mer) Management Instrument 2022","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\nmeta-generator: Aspose.Words for .NET 20.2\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nTorres Strait Fisheries (Bêche-de-mer) Management Instrument 2022\n\nThe Protected Zone Joint Authority, acting in accordance with the powers conferred on the Authority by paragraph 35(1)(a) of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984, makes the following instrument under section 16, and in accordance with section 40, of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984.\n\nDated: Friday 11 February 2022  \n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nSenator the Hon Jonathon Duniam\n\nAssistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries\n\nAssistant Minister for Industry Development\n\nChair, Protected Zone Joint Authority\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1 Name\n\n2 Commencement\n\n3 Authority\n\n4 Definitions\n\n5 Schedules\n\n6 Prohibition on taking, processing or carrying bêche-de-mer\n\n7 Prohibition on taking, processing or carrying of undersize bêche-de-mer\n\n8 Prohibition on the use of certain methods\n\n9 Prohibition on the use of certain equipment\n\n10 Prohibition on the use, possession or control of underwater breathing apparatus\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\n \n\n1        Name\n\n  This instrument is the Torres Strait Fisheries (Bêche-de-mer) Management Instrument 2022.\n\n2        Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument 1 March 2022 1 March 2022\n\n\nNote 1: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3        Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under section 16 of the Act.\n\n4        Definitions\n\nNote: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in section 3 of the Act, including the following:\n\n(a)      community fishing\n\n(b)      fish\n\n(c)      traditional inhabitant\n\n(d)      traditional fishing.\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984.\n\nbêche-de-mer means fish of the families Holothuriidae and Stichopodidae.\n\nbêche-de-mer fishery means the area of the bêche-de-mer fishery prescribed in item 1 of Schedule 2 to the Torres Strait Fisheries Regulations 1985. \n\nbêche-de-mer licenced person means a person who has been granted a licence under subsection 19(2), 19(3) or 19(4A) of the Act that authorises the taking, processing or carrying of bêche-de-mer in the bêche-de-mer fishery.\n\nhookah gear means equipment to enable a person to breathe underwater where the air is supplied from either an air compressor or one or more air cylinders above the surface of the water, and includes equipment which may be described as surface supplied breathing equipment or surface supplied breathing apparatus.\n\nPZJA Arrangement means the document titled “Arrangement between the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland under section 31 of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984” dated 17 March 1999 and published on the Federal Register of Legislation, as that document exists at the commencement of this instrument.\n\nNote:  The PZJA Arrangement could be viewed on the website of the Federal Register of Legislation on 20 October 2021 at: <https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2008B00750>.\n\nRegulations means the Torres Strait Fisheries Regulations 1985.\n\nunderwater breathing apparatus includes hookah gear and self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (known as SCUBA). \n\n5        Schedules\n\n  Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.\n\n6        Prohibition on taking, processing or carrying bêche-de-mer\n\n(1)     The taking, processing or carrying of bêche-de-mer in the area of the bêche-de-mer fishery is prohibited.\n\nNote:  This prohibition does not apply to traditional inhabitants engaged in traditional fishing due to the application of the PZJA Arrangement.\n\n(2)    A person is exempt from the prohibition in subsection (1) where:\n\n(a)    the person is a bêche-de-mer licenced person; or\n\n(b)    the person takes or carries bêche-de-mer without the use of a boat – the number of bêche-de-mer in that person’s possession does not exceed three; or\n\n(c)    the person takes or carries bêche-de-mer with the use of a boat, or by diving from a boat, and no other person is in the boat – the number of bêche-de-mer in the boat does not exceed three; or\n\n(d)    the person takes or carries bêche-de-mer with the use of a boat, or by diving from a boat, and there is at least one other person in the boat – the number of bêche-de-mer in the boat does not exceed six.\n\n7        Prohibition on taking, processing or carrying of undersize bêche-de-mer\n\nThe taking, processing or carrying of bêche-de-mer of a species listed in an item in column 1 of the table is prohibited where, in their original living form at their longest point, the length of bêche-de-mer is shorter in length than the minimum length specified in column 2 of the table.\n\nNote: This prohibition does not apply to traditional inhabitants engaged in traditional fishing due to application of the PZJA Arrangement. \n\n \n\n| Item | Column 1<br>Species of bêche-de-mer | Column 2<br>Minimum length (centimetres) |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| 1 | Black teatfish (Holothuria whitmaei) | 25 |\n| 2 | Brown sandfish (Bohadschia vitiensis) | 25 |\n| 3 | Burrowing blackfish (Actinopyga spinea) | 22 |\n| 4 | Curryfish (common) (Stichopus herrmanni) | 31 |\n| 5 | Curryfish (vastus) (Stichopus vastus) | 15 |\n| 6 | Deepwater blackfish (Actinopyga palauensis) | 22 |\n| 7 | Deepwater redfish (Actinopyga echinites) | 20 |\n| 8 | Elephant trunkfish (Holothuria fuscopunctata) | 24 |\n| 9 | Golden sandfish (Holothuria lessoni) | 22 |\n| 10 | Hairy blackfish (Actinopyga miliaris) | 22 |\n| 11 | Leopardfish (Bohadschia argus) | 30 |\n| 12 | Lollyfish (Holothuria atra) | 15 |\n| 13 | Prickly redfish (Thelenota ananas) | 35 |\n| 14 | Sandfish (Holothuria scabra) | 18 |\n| 15 | Surf redfish (Actinopyga mauritiana) | 22 |\n| 16 | White teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva) | 32 |\n\n\n8        Prohibition on the use of certain methods\n\n(1)    The taking, processing or carrying of bêche-de-mer in the bêche-de-mer fishery using methods to which subsection (2) applies is prohibited.\n\nNote:  This prohibition does not apply to traditional inhabitants engaged in traditional fishing due to the application of the PZJA Arrangement.\n\n(2)    This subsection applies to all fishing methods apart from collection by hand.\n\n9        Prohibition on the use of certain equipment\n\n(1)    The taking, processing or carrying of bêche-de-mer in the bêche-de-mer fishery with the use of equipment to which subsection (2) applies is prohibited.\n\nNote:  This prohibition does not apply to traditional inhabitants engaged in traditional fishing due to the application of the PZJA Arrangement.\n\n(2)    This subsection applies to:\n\n(a)    any kind of mechanical equipment that provides for underwater propulsion; and\n\n(b)    Any kind of underwater breathing apparatus.\n\n10    Prohibition on the use, possession or control of underwater breathing apparatus\n\nA person is prohibited from using, from having in his or her possession, or from having under his or her control, on a boat in the area of the bêche-de-mer fishery, any quantity of underwater breathing apparatus, where a person is also carrying bêche-de-mer on a boat in the area of the bêche-de-mer fishery.\n\nNote:  This prohibition does not apply to traditional inhabitants engaged in traditional fishing due to the application of the PZJA Arrangement.\n\n\n\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\n \n\nTorres Strait Fisheries Management Instrument No. 15\n\nF2017L00370\n\n1  The whole of the instrument\n\nRepeal the instrument\n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Schedule 1 repeals Torres Strait Fisheries Management Instrument No.15 and replaces it with this new instrument. The new instrument defines specific prohibitions, species size limits, possession thresholds, method and equipment bans, and maintains an explicit exemption for traditional inhabitants under the PZJA Arrangement (see Schedule 1, ss6–10)."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-references to Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 and Torres Strait Fisheries Regulations 1985 (definitions and licensing) (see s3, s4)","Exemption structure with numeric possession limits that vary by whether a boat is used and number of persons on board (see s6(2)(b)-(d))","Species-specific minimum length table with 16 species and different centimetre limits (see s7 and accompanying table)","Method and equipment bans with narrow exception for collection by hand and carve-outs for traditional inhabitants under the PZJA Arrangement (see s8(2), s9(2) and notes throughout)","Detailed definitions of underwater breathing apparatus and 'hookah gear' affecting scope of equipment prohibitions (see s4)","Repeal of prior Management Instrument No.15 (Schedule 1), creating a direct replacement rather than an incremental amendment"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument forbids taking, processing or carrying bêche‑de‑mer in the Torres Strait bêche‑de‑mer fishery except for licensed fishers and traditional inhabitants under the PZJA Arrangement. It prescribes species‑specific minimum lengths, limits how many sea cucumbers a person or boat may have, bans all fishing methods except collection by hand, and prohibits underwater breathing apparatus and motorised underwater propulsion when carrying bêche‑de‑mer. The Protected Zone Joint Authority makes and enforces these rules; commercial fishers face licensing, gear and compliance costs."},"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"},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The instrument maintains its original narrow scope — regulating the bêche-de-mer fishery specifically. It replaces a previous instrument (Torres Strait Fisheries Management Instrument No. 15) without expanding into new fishery areas or adding substantial new regulatory domains. The prohibitions and exemptions align with the long-standing framework of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984."},"complexity_factors":["Short instrument with only 10 operative sections plus a repeal schedule","Minimal cross-referencing — primarily references the parent Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 and Regulations for definitions","Straightforward prohibitions with clear exemptions in subsections","Single table with 16 species and minimum length requirements — easily readable","No nested exceptions or conditional logic beyond basic 'if-then' exemption structure","Only 6 defined terms in the instrument itself (relies heavily on external definitions in the parent Act)"],"plain_english_summary":"This law tightly restricts harvesting, processing and possession of bêche‑de‑mer in the Torres Strait to protect stocks. It requires licences for commercial fishers, imposes minimum size limits for 16 species, limits unlicensed catch, bans mechanical methods and underwater breathing gear, and permits only hand collection.\n\nTraditional inhabitants are expressly exempt, preserving customary fishing while preventing overfishing and protecting ecosystem function."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022","history":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022/history","analysis":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/torres-strait-fisheries-b-che-de-mer-management-instrument-2022/documents"}}