Line fishery regulations

The following regulations apply to Queensland's commercial line fisheries. For more detailed information, refer to the fisheries legislation.

Harvest strategies

The Queensland line fishery is managed under a number of harvest strategies:

  • east coast inshore harvest strategy
  • reef line harvest strategy
  • Gulf of Carpentaria hammerhead harvest strategy.

Monitoring and reporting

Commercial line fishers must comply with a number of reporting requirements.

In summary, fishers must:

Under Queensland fisheries legislation, people who commercially fish or buy coral reef fin fish or Spanish mackerel are required to meet additional catch reporting requirements.

Commercial fishers must also have vessel tracking on their boats to monitor compliance with regulations.

Regulations

  • Operates on the east coast, largely within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
  • Managed under the reef line harvest strategy.
  • To operate in the fishery, fishers must have:
  • The person in charge of an operation must hold a commercial fisher licence, in order to operate under a primary commercial fishing licence.
  • There is a total allowable commercial catch and individual transferrable quota units allocated to each licence.
  • Two 5-day spawning closures around the moon phase in October and November each year.
  • Size and form requirements apply to reef fish species.
  • A primary boat can be up to 25m long and have up to 7 tender boats up to 10m long – except if operating under an L3 symbol, which allows a primary boat to have 1 tender boat up to 10m long.
  • Reef fish can be taken using fishing lines, with the following restrictions:
    • fishing under an L1, L2 or L3 symbol
      • maximum of 3 fishing lines at the same time and a total of 6 hooks or lures attached per person
    • fishing under an L8 symbol
      • drop lines or bottom set lines can be used, but not at the same time
      • maximum of 6 drop lines with a float and up to 50 hooks attached to each line
      • maximum of 3 bottom set lines and 300 hooks with a float attached to the end of each line
      • floats must be solid, light-coloured and no less than 30cm in any dimension
      • a person must be within 100m of a line or group of lines while they are in use.
  • Operates on the east coast.
  • To operate in the fishery, fishers must have:
  • If a primary commercial fishing licence has more than 1 fishery symbol on it, a person acting under the licence must not take fish in more than 1 commercial fishery at the same time, unless that person is:
    • taking fish under an SM symbol
    • taking regulated coral reef fish under an RQ symbol
    • taking fin fish (other than Spanish mackerel and regulated coral reef fin fish) under an L1, L2, L3 or L8 symbol
    • taking shark under an S symbol.
  • The person in charge of an operation must hold a commercial fisher licence, in order to operate under a primary commercial fishing licence.
  • Snapper and pearl perch are managed under a competitive total allowable commercial catch quota system.
  • No catch limits are in place for other species, but all species are monitored for changes in harvest and catch rates.
  • Annual snapper and pearl perch closed season from 15 July to 15 August.
  • Size and form requirements apply to rocky reef fish species.
  • A primary boat can be up to 25m long and have up to 7 tender boats up to 10m long – except if operating under an L3 symbol, which allows a primary boat to have 1 tender boat up to 10m long.
  • Fish can be taken using fishing lines, with the following restrictions:
    • fishing under an L1, L2 or L3 symbol
      • maximum of 3 fishing lines at the same time and a total of 6 hooks or lures attached per person
    • fishing under an L8 symbol
      • drop lines or bottom set lines can be used, but not at the same time
      • maximum of 6 drop lines with a float and up to 50 hooks attached to each line
      • maximum of 3 bottom set lines and 300 hooks with a float attached to the end of each line
      • floats must be solid, light-coloured and no less than 30cm in any dimension
      • a person must be within 100m of a line or group of lines while they are in use.
  • Operates on the east coast (Spanish mackerel cannot be taken from Platypus Bay (near K'gari, formerly Fraser Island) due to the risk of ciguatoxin contamination).
  • To operate in the fishery, fishers must have:
  • The person in charge of an operation must hold a commercial fisher licence, in order to operate under a primary commercial fishing licence.
  • There is a total allowable commercial catch and individual transferrable quota units are allocated to each licence.
  • Two northern spawning closures around the moon phase in October – December each year.
  • Two southern spawning closures (1–21 February and 1–21 March) each year.
  • Size and form requirements apply to Spanish mackerel.
  • Fish can be taken using fishing lines, with the following restrictions:
    • fishing under an L1, L2 or L3 symbol
      • maximum of 3 fishing lines at the same time and a total of 6 hooks or lures attached per person
    • fishing under an L8 symbol
      • drop lines or bottom set lines can be used, but not at the same time
      • maximum of 6 drop lines with a float and up to 50 hooks attached to each line
      • maximum of 3 bottom set lines and 300 hooks with a float attached to the end of each line
      • floats must be solid, light-coloured and no less than 30cm in any dimension
      • a person must be within 100m of a line or group of lines while they are in use.
  • Operates on the east coast, eastward of longitude 142°31'49" east.
  • Managed under the east coast inshore harvest strategy.
  • Multi-gear, multi-species fishery that harvests approximately 100 species using net and line gear.
  • The following fishery symbols specify permitted gear and target species:
    • N1 – general purpose mesh netting
    • N2 – set mesh netting
    • N4 – offshore waters
    • N10 – tunnel netting
    • N11 – small mesh netting
    • K1–8 – ocean beach seine/haul netting
    • L1 – line fishery (other than in Great Barrier Reef)
    • L2 – line fishery (reef)
    • L3 – line fishery (reef)
    • S – shark and ray fishery (must also have another symbol).
  • To operate in the fishery, fishers must have:
    • a primary commercial fishing licence
    • at least 1 eligible net or line symbol
    • unused quota units to retain tier 1 species – barramundi, king threadfin, grey mackerel, whiting (management region 5 only) and school mackerel (management region 5 only).
  • The person in charge of an operation must hold a commercial fisher licence, in order to operate under a primary commercial fishing licence.
  • Managed by setting total allowable commercial catch (TACC) limits for key species– some TACCs are competitive and some TACCs are split into individual transferrable quota units allocated to each licence.
  • A number of closed seasons and waters apply to the fishery, including additional gear restrictions at different times of the year.
  • Barramundi is a no-take species between 1 November and 31 January each year.
  • Snapper and pearl perch are no-take species between 15 July and 15 August each year.
  • Two 5-day coral reef fin fish spawning closures around the moon phase in October and November each year.
  • Permitted fishing equipment varies across fishing symbols and fishing areas, and is outlined under the relevant symbol provisions listed in the Fisheries (Commercial Fisheries) Regulation 2019.
  • Size and form requirements apply to reef fish species.
  • A primary boat can be up to 25m long and have up to 7 tender boats up to 10m long – except if operating under an L3 symbol, which allows a primary boat to have 1 tender boat up to 10m long.
  • Reef fish can be taken using fishing lines, with the following restrictions:
    • fishing under an L1, L2 or L3 symbol
      • maximum of 3 fishing lines at the same time and a total of 6 hooks or lures attached per person
    • fishing under an L8 symbol
      • drop lines or bottom set lines can be used, but not at the same time
      • maximum of 6 drop lines with a float and up to 50 hooks attached to each line
      • maximum of 3 bottom set lines and 300 hooks with a float attached to the end of each line
      • floats must be solid, light-coloured and no less than 30cm in any dimension
      • a person must be within 100m of a line or group of lines while they are in use.

Also consider…

  • Last reviewed: 6 Dec 2022
  • Last updated: 29 Jun 2023