Fin fish (stout whiting) trawl fishery

Fishery symbol

• T4: trawl fishery (fin fish)

Management

• Harvest strategy
• The trawl fishery working group provides operational advice on the management of the fishery.

Operating area

• Area of the T4 trawl fishery (fin fish)

Quota

The fishery is managed through:

• total allowable commercial catch (TACC)
• individual transferable quotas (ITQs) units allocated to each licence.

The TACC is adjusted each year according to the harvest strategy.

Permitted species

Two species are permitted to be kept under non-transferable quota units:

• Yellowtail scad (Trachurus novazelandiae)
• Goatfish (Mullidae family).

Catch and trip limits

Under trip limits, licence holders can retain:

• squid
• octopus
• cuttlefish
• threadfin bream.

There are no catch limits to retain:

• Moreton Bay bugs
• Balmain bugs.

Licences

To operate in the fishery, you need a:

• primary commercial fishing licence with 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
• pre-trip notice
• amending notice
• prior notice
• weight notice
• catch disposal record
• retained fish notice
• emergency notice
• complete daily logbooks
• keep sale dockets
• have vessel tracking on their boats
• comply with state marine park and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning rules.

Equipment

All otter trawls must have:

• bycatch reduction devices (BRDs)
• turtle excluder devices (TEDs).

Net specifications

• Maximum total net length of 88m (combined head rope, bottom rope and all other ropes attached to the net).
• Minimum mesh size is 38mm.

Permitted species

Permitted species may be taken only by using otter trawl or Danish seine gear.

Otter trawl restrictions:

• maximum sweep length of 128m
• maximum vessel length of 20m
• compliant turtle excluder device must be on all otter trawl nets.

Danish seine restrictions:

• maximum haul rope length of 2500m
• deployed nets must be marked with a floating buoy
• maximum vessel length of 25m.

Target species

• Stout whiting