1. Developing Australian Fisheries Management
Under the Constitution State fisheries competently managed and developed coastal fisheries to such an extent that the Commonwealth Parliament saw no need to pass a fisheries Act for more than 50 years. This paper discusses the origins of fisheries management in Australia, the evolution of its practice and the problems it faces in acheiving sustainable but profitable fisheries.
This paper was written in 1990 for the Ecologically Sustainable Development Working Group - Fisheries. Parts are included in the published Final Report: (AGPS Canberra 1991)
2. Fisheries & the Constitution
National management of fisheries began before Federation when several colonies saw the need to control foreigners fishing for pearl shell. On the recommendation of the Federal Council of Australasia the Imperial Parliament passed to Acts that allowed Queensland and Western Australia to control fisheries beyond territorial limits.
Samuel Griffith as Premier of Queensland was keenly interested in fisheries and as key draftsman for the new Australian Constitution he proposed that the principles determined by the Federal Council would serve for the new Commonwealth. The States would assume colonial responsibility for managing fisheries within three miles and the Commonwealth Parliament could legislate to manage fisheries beyond these limits.
This paper written in 1987 discusses the debate on the inclusion of fisheries powers into the Australian Consitution.
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3. The Commonwealth Role in the Administration of Fisheries
'A sort of mongrel socialism'
From 1906 onwards the Commonwealth Parliament began to consider fisheries matters and a few years later acquired an exploratory vessel. The enthusiasm waned after the vessel was lost with all hands in 1914. Little more was done for the next 20 years until CSIR was encouraged to begin a fisheries program. This monograph tracks the policy development process and the personalities that established the role the national government played in first developing, and later managing some offshore fisheries.
Published in Canberra in January 1991by the Royal Australian Institute of Public Administration as National Monograph No.6. ISBN 0 909800 28 6. National Library of Australia 353.9940082362
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1.1906
5. 1943
2. 1926
6. 1947
3. 1933
7. 1958
4. 1940
8. 1970
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