Operating a net fishery
Queensland’s major commercial net fisheries are the:
- east coast inshore fishery, including ocean beaches and NX fishery
- Gulf of Carpentaria inshore fishery.
Queensland's commercial net fisheries are a multi-species fishery. Fishers target different species at different times of the year.
Fishery symbols
Cancelled symbols
N1, N2, N4 and S symbols are no longer valid from 1 January 2024.
East coast
- N10: Net fishery (east coast – no. 4) – tunnel nets
- N11: Net fishery (no. 11) – small-mesh nets
- N15: Net fishery (no. 15) – large-mesh nets in management region 5
- NX: Net fishery (no. NX) – limited life large-mesh nets in management regions 2–4.
Ocean beach
- K1: Net fishery (ocean beach area 1)
- K2: Net fishery (ocean beach area 2)
- K3: Net fishery (ocean beach area 3)
- K4: Net fishery (ocean beach area 4)
- K5: Net fishery (ocean beach area 5)
- K6: Net fishery (ocean beach area 6)
- K7: Net fishery (ocean beach area 7)
- K8: Net fishery (ocean beach area 8).
Gulf of Carpentaria
- N3: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria – no. 1) – large-mesh inshore nets
- N12: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria – offshore) – large-mesh offshore nets
- N11: Net fishery (no. 11) – small-mesh nets
- N13: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria – offshore) – large-mesh offshore nets.
Management
Harvest strategies
Working groups
Operating areas
Ocean beach
- Area of the K1 net fishery
- Area of the K2 net fishery
- Area of the K3 net fishery
- Area of the K4 net fishery
- Area of the K5 net fishery
- Area of the K6 net fishery
- Area of the K7 net fishery
- Area of the K8 net fishery.
East coast inshore
Gulf of Carpentaria
- Area of the N3 Gulf of Carpentaria net fishery
- Area of the N11 Gulf of Carpentaria net fishery
- Area of the N12 net fishery
- Area of the N13 net fishery.
N10: Net fishery (east coast – no. 4) – tunnel nets
- Selected foreshore waters in:
- Moreton Bay region
- Great Sandy Strait region.
Licences
To operate in the fishery, you need a:
- primary commercial fishing licence with the relevant fishery symbol
- commercial fisher licence for the person in charge of fishing activities.
Reporting and monitoring
Commercial fishers must:
- report trip and catch notices – varies depending on the fishery symbol
- complete daily logbooks
- keep sales dockets
- have vessel tracking on their boats
- comply with the state marine park and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning rules.
Equipment
Permitted fishing equipment varies across fishing symbols and fishing areas:
- east coast inshore fishery uses mainly mesh nets, with seine nets used in ocean beach fisheries
- Gulf of Carpentaria inshore fishery mainly uses mesh nets.