Crab fishery regulations

Licensing

In Queensland, there are approximately 340 commercial crabbing licences that allow the take of blue swimmer crabs and mud crabs, and about 35 spanner crab licences. Commercial crab fishers must comply with the following licensing laws:

• The fisher must have a commercial fisher licence.
• The boat must be licensed with a primary commercial fishing licence.
• The boat licence must be officially endorsed with a fishery symbol for the particular fishery (i.e. C1, C2 and/or C3).
• To take mud crabs on the east coast or Gulf of Carpentaria, a commercial fisher also needs to hold a minimum of 1.2t of the relevant quota prior to commencing fishing (i.e. EC1-ITQ, GC1-ITQ).
• To take blue swimmer crabs in Queensland, a commercial fisher also needs to hold blue swimmer crab quota (BC1-ITQ).
• To take spanner crabs in managed area A, a commercial fisher also needs to hold spanner crab quota.

No new licences or symbols are issued for existing fisheries. To enter a fishery, you must first obtain the correct licence and symbol(s) from an existing licence holder.

Licences can be transferred from person to person and fishery symbols can be transferred from licence to licence.

Monitoring and reporting

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

In summary, fishers must:

• report trip/catch notices via the Qld eFisher commercial fishing app or the Automated Integrated Voice Response system
• complete compulsory daily logbooks – catch and effort, and threatened, endangered and protected animals
• keep sale dockets for all wholesale sales for 5 years, including to businesses involved in the processing and storage of fisheries resources.

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

Regulations

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

Mud crab fishery

• Fishery managed under the mud crab harvest strategy.
• Licence to be marked with a C1 fishery symbol.
• Take is limited to crabs only (but not spanner crabs).
• All females must be immediately returned to the water.
• Minimum size of 15cm across carapace (tip to tip).
• Individual transferable quotas apply to the east coast and Gulf of Carpentaria mud crab management areas.
• A licence holder must have at least 1.2t of quota entitlement for the relevant management region before they are allowed to fish in that management region.
• Maximum of 50 pots, traps and dillies can be used if the C1 fishery symbol is written on a licence once. If the C1 fishery symbol is written on a licence more than once, a maximum of 100 pots, traps and dillies can be used.

Blue swimmer crab fishery

• Fishery managed under the blue swimmer crab harvest strategy.
• Licence to be marked with a C1 fishery symbol.
• Take is limited to crabs only (but not spanner crabs).
• All females must be immediately returned to the water.
• Minimum size of 11.5cm across carapace (notch to notch).
• Individual transferable quotas apply to the blue swimmer crab management area. A licence holder must have sufficient unused quota for the blue swimmer crab management region before they are allowed to fish in that management region.
• Maximum of 50 pots, traps and dillies can be used if the C1 fishery symbol is written on a licence once. If the C1 fishery symbol is written on a licence twice, a maximum of 100 pots, traps and dillies can be used. If the C1 fishery symbol is written on a licence 3 times or more, a maximum of 150 pots, traps and dillies can be used.

Spanner crab fishery

• Fishery managed under the spanner crab harvest strategy.
• Licence to be marked with a C2 or C3 fishery symbol.
• Take is limited to spanner crabs only.
• Berried females (i.e. females carrying eggs) must be returned to the water.
• Minimum size of 10cm carapace length.
• A total allowable commercial catch is set once every 2 years for managed area A.
• An individual transferable quota applies to managed area A (it can be traded between spanner crab fishers).
• Pots, traps and dillies limit:
  • managed area A: 45 at a time if 1 fisher or 85 if 2 or more fishers on board a boat
  • managed area B: 35 at a time on board a boat.
• Daily in-possession limits also apply to managed area B.

Also consider...

• Learn how fishers must also comply with state marine park and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning rules.