DOF052017A - Panel Contract for Third Party Certification Assessments for WA Fisheries - Refresh

The Contract Authority requires additional suitably qualified and accredited Conformity Assessment Bodies to undertake Full Assessments (as defined by the MSC) and the first surveillance audit on WA’s fisheries. The Contract Authority has identified more than 35 individual fisheries which may require MSC Full Assessment and for which a Panel of contractors is intended to be established. Since a decision to seek full certification requires a voluntary decision from a fishery’s licence holder, not all fisheries may be certified.

Generally a Full Assessment will be undertaken once a fishery has completed a Pre-Assessment, any necessary changes are implemented (for example resulting from the Pre-Assessment advice) and the fishery licence holder request a Full Assessment. Full Assessments may cover any of WA’s commercial fisheries with the exception of the West Coast rock lobster fishery which was pre-assessed in 2000, and a further seven fisheries certified, and six in-certification since 2015.

From 2013 to 2015 all the Western Australian commercial fisheries were pre-assessed against the MSC standard, some 120 Units of Certification were identified.

Western Australian rock lobster was certified in 2000 and so far, since 2014, an additional 9 fisheries have been MSC certified, these being:

1. Shark Bay prawn trawl;
2. Exmouth Gulf prawn trawl;
3. Peel Harvey estuary blue swimmer crab (commercial and recreational fisheries);
4. Peel Harvey estuary sea mullet;
5. Western Australian abalone;
6. Australian west coast deep sea crab;
7. Western Australian silver lipped pearl;
8. Western Australian sea cucumber; and
9. Western AustralianInterim Managed Octopus fishery.

As well as the MSC wild fisheries, assessments have also included aquaculture ventures. So far two abalone aquaculture ventures have been pre-assessed under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council standard.