New QCVA Internet Hub
The Queensland Charter Vessel Association is developing a new Info Hub to replace the existing qcva.com.au. This new site will promote Queensland as a h2o adventure destination and provide everyone involved in the aquatic tourism industry with a diverse online resource. Once fully developed, the site will include a tourism guide to Queensland's h2o adventures, online courses, a fact sheet library, career advise and recruitment classifieds, marketing and business resources, and the latest information on industry trends.

Operational Practices Under Review
Part E of the National Standard for Commercial Vessels is presently under review. The National Standard for Commercial Vessels (NSCV) provides an integrated safety system, combining a vessel's technical characteristics, operator competencies and operational procedures to control risk. This Part specifies operational requirements, emergency procedures and essential elements of a safety management system. (Refer NSCV)

The responsibility for ensuring that a vessel is managed in such a way so as to operate safely is shared between all stakeholders that exercise control over the safety of a vessel including the authority, owners, employers, masters and crew.

The objective of this Part is to reduce risk onboard vessels by promoting the development of an onboard safety culture. It provides a framework for operational safety systems to help the user identify hazards, analyse risks, and put in place measures that eliminate, minimise or control those risks.

All information is available on www.nmsc.gov.au

Proposed New Management Arrangements for Queensland Marine Fisheries
Queensland Fisheries Services released two items within one of their notices that have direct relevance to the Charter sector.

Use of Coral Reef Fish for bait - A number of coral reef fish have historically been used as bait to catch other more prized fish species. However the current filleting restrictions on all coral reef fish has had the effect of prohibiting this practice. The proposal allows a fisher to have one coral reef fish in process of being cut up for bait whilst fishing. As usual limitations on size and possession continue to apply to a fish possessed for bait, this proposal does not comprise the conservation measures in place for these fish but does overcome a practical issue now in the fishery. (Source: QFS Notice)

Pectoral fin clipping amendment - Presently a coral reef fish taken recreationally must have one of is pectoral fins clipped before it is stored. The purpose of the measure is to dissuade black-marketing of those fish. Currently, a fisher could legally delay clipping the fin until the fish was to be landed by keeping it alive and/or out of cool storage. Failure to clip the fin would only be detected in the unlikely event that the fisher unloaded fish with unclipped fins while an inspector was in the vicinity. It is proposed that a fisher must not keep a fish alive other than for the purpose of immediately returning it to the sea and that a dead fish must have its pectoral fin clipped.
(Source: QFS Notice)

All information is available on www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb

h2o Crew is a joint publication by the
Queensland Charter Vessel Association
and the Australian Marinelife Institute.