Commercial fishing logbooks

If you are a commercial fisher or charter fisher operating in Queensland's state-managed fisheries, you are required by law to complete daily logbooks.

Recording information in commercial fishery logbooks

Commercial fishing logbooks are used to record:

• retained catch
• in certain logbooks, discarded catch
• time spent fishing
• location where catch was taken
• fishing equipment used.

There are different logbooks and reporting requirements for the various fisheries managed by Fisheries Queensland to accommodate the unique characteristics of each fishery.

You can download examples of the information recorded in logbooks for each fishery from the list of fishing logbooks below. Make sure you record information as accurately as possible. Fisheries Queensland uses this information to ensure Queensland's fisheries remain sustainable. Commercial fishers who require a logbook should contact Fisheries Queensland on 13 25 23. It is important that all the information in your logbook returns is correct.

Use our fish species guide to accurately identify and report species. The guide includes:

• the deepwater fish field guide (PDF, 548KB) (for use with the Queensland reef line multi-hook fin fish fishery logbook for commercial fishers operating in the L8 fishery)
• the fish identification guide
• the shark, rays and sawfish identification guide.

Species of conservation interest logbook

Since 2002, you have also been required to complete a species of conservation interest (SOCI) logbook, in which you record interactions with SOCI.

Being able to report on a fleet-wide basis will significantly help Fisheries Queensland to safeguard the ecological sustainability of Queensland's fisheries.

The Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) requires fishers to report all interactions with protected species to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE). You will meet this requirement when you report all interactions in your SOCI logbook. We provide a summary of SOCI interaction by fishery to DAWE.

Reporting interactions with protected animals is important for maintaining the Wildlife Trade Operation (WTO) accreditations granted by the Commonwealth for certain Queensland fisheries. The WTO accreditations are important for 3 primary reasons:

1. Without a WTO accreditation, seafood cannot be exported to international seafood markets.
2. Without a WTO accreditation, fishers who injure or kill a listed threatened, migratory, and marine species would be committing an offence under the EPBC Act, for which significant penalties apply.
3. WTO accreditation is commonly used within the Australian domestic market as an indicator of sustainability of the relevant fishery.

Fisheries Queensland has produced a series of videos on safe handling of SOCI caught as bycatch to reduce injury to animals and fishers. The animals featured include sharks, rays, sea turtles, freshwater turtles and sea snakes.

Watch videos on handling SOCI bycatch.

Using logbook data

QFISH is used:

• to provide a comprehensive fisheries information system for managers, researchers and industry
• to aggregate data in summary.

The information that you provide in your logbook returns is used for fisheries management and research purposes. It is therefore important that you provide accurate information on species, catch and fishing effort distribution in your logbook returns.

A comprehensive and continuous series of catch and effort data from commercial fishers’ logbooks provides the basis for:

• scientific stock analysis when used in conjunction with other biological data (e.g. recruitment studies or effects of closures)
• certain economic analysis
• descriptions of current fishing activity
• short and long-term trends in the spatial and temporal distributions of fishing activity
• responsible management and administration.

Data request procedure

Fisheries Queensland uses your logbook data, and also receives a large number of data requests from industry, researchers and other agencies. To safeguard the integrity of data and protect the confidentiality of clients, all requests are forwarded through a data coordinator.

In most cases, data is provided at a resolution of 30 n mile or 6 n mile grids and will only include aggregated information for more than 5 boats. Catch information for several key species is provided on QFish

Buyer's logbooks

• Beche-de-mer buyers (PDF, 16KB)

Catch Disposal Record

• Catch Disposal Record (PDF, 32KB)

Charter fishery

• Commercial fishing tours (PDF, 43KB)

Harvest and collection fisheries

• East coast beche-de-mer fishery (PDF, 57KB)
• Aquarium fish fishery (PDF, 92KB)
• Marine shell collection (PDF, 170KB)
• Coral, shell grit and star sand collection (PDF, 33KB)
• Tropical rock lobster fishery (PDF, 17KB)
• Beachworm, bloodworm and yabby fishery (PDF, 22KB)
• Juvenile eel fishery (PDF, 39KB)
• Adult eel fishery (PDF, 26KB)
• Broodstock and culture stock collection fishery (PDF, 55KB)

Line fisheries

• Gulf of Carpentaria line fishery (PDF, 55KB)
• East coast line fisheries (reef line, rocky reef, Spanish mackerel) (PDF, 29KB)
• Reef line multi-hook fin fish fishery (PDF, 75KB)

Net and crab fisheries

• East coast net and crab fishery (PDF, 36KB)
• Gulf of Carpentaria net and crab fishery (PDF, 31KB)
• Spanner crab fishery (PDF, 62KB)

Shark and ray fisheries

• Shark and ray logbook (PDF, 57KB)

Species of conservation interest (SOCI)

• Species of conservation interest (PDF, 17KB)

Trawl fisheries

• East coast trawl fishery (PDF, 130KB)
• Gulf of Carpentaria fin fish trawl (PDF, 24KB)
• Stout whiting trawl fishery (PDF, 48KB)

Also consider...

• Search QFish to access commercial and recreational fishing catch data for free.
• To request a copy of logbook pages you've previously submitted to Fisheries Queensland, complete an application for logbook history search (PDF, 45KB)
• To request a summary of logbook data that you've previously submitted to Fisheries Queensland, complete an application for copies of logbook pages (PDF, 45KB).
• You can also look at summary reports by accessing your FishNet Secure account.