Sea cucumber fishery

Fishery symbol

• B1: Beche-de-mer fishery (east coast)

Management

• Harvest strategy
• Working group

Operating area

• Area of the B1 beche-de-mer fishery

Quota and effort

The fishery is managed through:

• limited entry—only 18 B1 licences are available
• total allowable commercial catch
• individual transferable quotas (ITQs) units allocated to each licence
• species-based catch limits.

Fisheries Queensland monitors other species by performance measurement systems.

The fishery area is managed under a rotational harvest arrangement (RHA) in a 3-year cycle.

The reefs are divided into 158 zones:

• 52 zones in year 1
• 54 zones in year 2
• 52 zones in year 3.

A maximum of 18 days diving allowed per zone, per year.

Licences

To operate in the fishery, you need a:

• primary commercial fishing licence with a B1 fishery symbol
• up to 6 people can operate under a licence at any one time
• 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 and 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.

Closures

• Waters south of latitude 20º south (near Bowen).
• Waters west of longitude 142º31'49'' east (Gulf waters).

Equipment

• One primary boat.
• Up to 4 tender boats.

Target species

• Black teatfish (Holothuria whitmaei)
• White teatfish (Holothuria fuscogilva)
• Burrowing blackfish (Actinopyga spinea)

Size or take limits

• Minimum size limits are in place for 13 species as a licence condition.
• Quota is in place for black teatfish, white teatfish and other species.