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Is coral considered to be 'fish' as defined in subsection 34(2) of the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA) for the purposes of the energy grants credits scheme?

Yes. Coral is considered to be 'fish' as defined in subsection 34(2) of the EGCSA for the purposes of the energy grants credit scheme.

A client carries on a business of collecting coral for sale.

Corals have nerve cells, sensorial cells, muscular cells, reproductive cells and nemotocysts.

They can reproduce asexually through processes of division, budding or fragmentation. They can also reproduce sexually by making free-swimming larvae that land away from the parent to form new coral.

Furthermore, corals, like many other animals, compete for food and space in order to live.

Off-road credits are available under the EGCSA to persons who undertake primary production activities. The term primary production is defined in section 21 of the EGCSA as meaning amongst other things, 'fishing operations'. The term 'fishing operations' is in turn defined in section 34 of the EGCSA as meaning 'the taking, catching or capturing of fish' (and various other activities).

'Fish' is defined in subsection 34(2) of the EGCSA as: ... freshwater or salt-water fish, and includes crustacea, molluscs or any other living resources, whether of the sea or sea-bed or of freshwater or the bed below freshwater.

As corals are living animals that reproduce and compete with other animals and plants for space and resources in order to survive, it is considered that coral is a 'living resource of the sea' and therefore is considered to be 'fish' for the purposes of subsection 34(2) of the EGCSA.