Fisheries Home

Fisheries - supporting sustainable fishing and aquaculture industries

Australia has the world’s third largest fishing zone, extending up to 200 nautical miles out to sea. Despite this size, Australian waters tend not to be as productive as those in many regions, and Australia only ranks 52nd in the world in terms of volume of fish landed. Although the overall amount of fish products caught may be relatively low, Australia’s fisheries production focuses on high value export species such as lobsters, prawn, tuna, salmon and abalone. Australia’s commercial fishing and aquaculture industry is worth over $2 billion annually and employs around 16,000 people (9,700 directly and 6,200 indirectly) (ABARES, 2010). The challenge is to promote a profitable and competitive fishing industry while ensuring the sustainability of Australia’s marine ecosystem.

Australia’s federal, state and territory governments manage fisheries on behalf of the Australian people through consultation with the fishing industry, scientists, economists and other user groups, such as those that represent traditional fishing, recreational fishing and the environment. These management processes are used to implement controls, such as limits on catch or effort levels, and regulations regarding fishing methods in order to manage Australia’s fisheries in a sustainable way.

Generally, state/territory laws apply to coastal waters (up to 3nm) and Commonwealth laws apply from those waters out to the limit of the Australian fishing zone (200nm).

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) is responsible for the operational management of Commonwealth fisheries. For further information regarding these fisheries visit the AFMA website.

The Commonwealth has generally limited its jurisdiction to commercial fishing with the state/territory fisheries department’s assuming responsibility for recreational fishing.