Commercial fishing in NSW

Major commercial fisheries in NSW

In NSW the major commercial fisheries are:

• Abalone Fishery - Abalone is commercially harvested from rocky reefs by divers.
• Estuary General Fishery - This fishery operates in 76 of the estuarine systems in NSW, and uses a variety of fishing gear including nets and traps. Over 80% of the catch is made up of sea mullet, luderick, yellowfin bream, school prawn, blue swimmer crab, dusky flathead, sand whiting, pipi, mud crab and silver biddy.
• Estuary Prawn Trawl Fishery - The Estuary Prawn Trawl Fishery uses prawn trawl nets to catch school prawns and eastern king prawns in the Clarence, Hawkesbury and Hunter rivers. Squid is also an important species for some Hawkesbury River fishers.
• Lobster Fishery - Eastern rock lobster is the main species harvested, but occasionally, southern rock lobster and tropical rock lobster are also caught. Fishers use traps to catch the lobsters.
• Ocean Hauling Fishery - This fishery targets around 20 finfish species including sardines (also known as pilchards), sea mullet, Australian salmon, blue mackerel, yellowtail scad and yellowfin bream.
• Ocean Trawl Fishery - There are two sectors in this fishery: prawn trawl and fish trawl. Both use trawl nets (although the nets are quite different) and the major species caught include school whiting, eastern king, school and royal red prawns, tiger flathead, silver trevally, various species of sharks and rays, squid, octopus and bugs.
• Ocean Trap & Line Fishery - This fishery uses a variety of methods, involving traps or lines with hooks. The methods used in the fishery (and the key species taken by each method) include: fish trap (snapper, silver trevally, rubberlip morwong and leatherjackets); setlines (snapper and sharks); driftlines (spotted and Spanish mackerel, yellowtail kingfish, and sharks); hand-held line (mulloway, yellowtail kingfish and bonito); dropline (blue-eye and hapuku); leadlining (yellowtail kingfish, mackerel and tuna); and spanner crab nets, known as  'dillies'.
• Inland Restricted Fishery - This is a small commercial fishery that operates primarily in the waters of the Murray-Darling, targeting carp and yabby only.
• Sea Urchin and Turban Shell Restricted Fishery - Sea urchins are the main target species in this fishery with small quantities of turban shell landed at times.

Diagrams of fishing methods and devices

See diagrams of fishing methods and devices (www.afma.gov.au).

Sustainability

Each of the fisheries is managed by the NSW Government to ensure that the environmental impacts are minimal and that fish are harvested at a sustainable level.

Each of the commercial fisheries has undergone an environmental assessment, which looks at the environmental impacts of the fishing activities. The environmental impact statement considers the impact of fishing on target species, bycatch species, important fish habitat, the broader ecosystem, and economic and social issues. It also considers the impact on the resource from other fishing activities and other non-fishing activities.

Fisheries Officers are employed by Industry & Investment NSW to patrol waterways to ensure commercial and recreational fishers are licensed and are following the rules.

Bycatch

Sometimes when fishers haul in their nets or lines they find they have caught species other than the ones that they were targeting. This is called the bycatch.

The type and design of fishing gear that is used can influence the amount of bycatch.  Scientists and commercial fishers in NSW are continuing to develop new gear and techniques that will help fishers reduce the amount of non-targeted species caught. 

NSW commercial fishers have been voluntarily using bycatch reduction devices for many years, and they are now compulsory in all ocean and estuary prawn trawl nets.

Great Australian Fisheries Challenge

Test your fisheries management skills with the Great Australian Fisheries Challenge, a web-based game for upper primary and secondary students.