Mr DEAN - There certainly is and this is why I thought I might be able to clear that up by asking that question. Quite obviously I have not been able to. I will ask another question. It has been suggested that there is a scallop bed right at the area where this effluent is to be released. Are you able to tell me whether or not there is a scallop bed near this development?

Mr LLEWELLYN - I do not know whether we have done surveys in this area, but to the best of my knowledge there may have been scallop beds in the area in the past. The actual settling of scallops is quite an imprecise science in a sense. We cannot predict generally where a scallop bed will form because conditions of the sea including the temperature, the currents and the eco-system on which they settle all have to be right for this event to occur. And then there is an issue of predation. It obviously needs to be free of predators for the scallops to advance and the like. I do not believe that there are scallops in that particular area right at the moment, but I am not sure if there has been any full assessment.

[12.45 p.m.]
Mr DEAN - I do not want to get into a debate but the fishing industry are saying that on their studies there is a scallop bed there and it is developing very well. Are you saying that DPIW support that, do not support that or have not done any study on it?

Mr EVANS - The simple answer is we do not know. We do not do scallop surveys.

Mr LLEWELLYN - We ask other people to do it for us and we make the assessments.

Mr FORD - The scallop surveys that we have done in conjunction with the industry over the last couple of years have focused on the areas of Banks Strait and up and down the east coast. I am not aware that we have done any surveying in the area around the Bass Strait. That does not mean to say industry has not done that themselves.

Mr DEAN - Will you do a study in relation to that?

Mr LLEWELLYN - We could include a couple of passes in and around that particular area in our current assessment of scallop production for the next season.

Mr DEAN - My next question would be: when could that be done?

Mr LLEWELLYN - Almost immediately.

Mr DEAN - If it is done almost immediately, can that information be passed back to the members of the upper House?

Mr LLEWELLYN - Yes.

CHAIR - I have a copy of a letter that you put to TARFish, to Anne Purtell, about the recommendations of the Winstanley report regarding adequate progress being made and so forth. Are you happy 12 months on that all of the issues surrounding TARFish at that time have been settled? I am asking that question because I am aware that there are still some issues of feeling of disenfranchisement by some in that community as to the entire TARFish process. It appears from some correspondence that I have got here that you addressed some of those issues over time. In 2007 do you believe it is settled and operational and that all areas of Tasmania are getting fair representation and a fair mix of the finances, that are substantial as you have listed earlier?

Mr LLEWELLYN - I almost covered this in the answer to the question from Mrs Rattray-Wagner. I understand that all the recommendations that were made at that stage have now been fulfilled, so I hope we are satisfying TARFish. They came to see me the other day and did not seem to have any ongoing issues in regard to this.

CHAIR - I think it was you who had the issues with them.

Mr LLEWELLYN - I know, but they did not have any issues associated with the issues that I raised with them at that time. As at the end of April 2007, TARFish has reported completion of all of the key recommendations of the Winstanley report. The department is now negotiating a tri-annual funding arrangement with TARFish. As a lot of these other grants are issued by government through whatever method, it is better to have them done tri-annually so as they know where they are going into the future and can plan on how they operate. That is what we intend to do.

CHAIR - Will part of that ensure that it is an equitable spread across the State, rather than something that is just rolled into one particular area of management? I believe there are some concerns that for one year there was money put out by this process to all the regional areas to get regional organisations up and operational. If my information is correct that was for one year only and there has been none since. Are you expecting TARFish to cover everything or are we looking to them to spread some of the finances into the future out into regional organisations as well?

Mr LLEWELLYN - Obviously they operate with some government involvement but they operate independently now in their own right. I understand they have regional committees that have been established so it is up to the organisation to make sure of that. We are providing the wherewithal for the central part of the organisation to exist by giving them the base grant and from there they have to make sure they represent their constituent bodies, otherwise they may find that some of their constituent parts complain about them and we are back to where we were with a disparate group. It is up to TARFish.

CHAIR - My advice to the disparate bodies is if they have got some complaint they should bring them to yourself as minister and that would give you a directive then as to whether or not everybody's happy regionally or whether they are not.

Mr LLEWELLYN - They should try to represent it through their body, which is TARFish.

CHAIR - It is a benchmark of how you know they are meeting the commitments you expect and the commitments of the fishing people.

Mr LLEWELLYN - The alternative to TARFish and them being able to convince me that there is a priority in TARFish and for them to put forward particular proposals would be for us to revert back to where we were before with the government running the show. They have to make that decision.