Mud crab fishery
Have your say on proposed fishery management reforms for the commercial C1 crab fishery (east coast and Gulf of Carpentaria) to avoid additional pressure on this sector following the phase-out of gillnet fishing in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
Fishery symbol
- C1: Other than spanner crab
Management
Operating areas
Quota entitlement
The fishery is a quota-managed fishery:
- individual transferable quotas (ITQs) units allocated to each primary commercial fishing licence
- management regions:
- EC1 – east coast mud crab
- GC1 – Gulf of Carpentaria mud crab.
A licence holder must have at least 1.2 tonnes of quota entitlement for the relevant management region before they are allowed to fish.
This quota entitlement:
- does not decrease as fishing activity occurs
- can increase or decrease if quota units are transferred into or out of the licence holder's account.
Quota entitlement is calculated as:
- opening quota balance + quota transferred in – quota transferred out.
The licence holder can check their quota entitlement through the Automated Interactive Voice Response (AIVR) system and on FishNet Secure.
Licences
To operate in the commercial crab fishery, you need a:
- commercial fisher licence for the person in charge of fishing activities
- primary commercial fishing licence with the relevant fishery symbol.
Reporting and monitoring
Commercial crab fishers must:
- report trip and catch notices
- complete daily logbooks
- keep sale dockets
- have vessel tracking on their boats
- comply with state marine park and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park zoning rules.
Closures
- Eurimbula Creek – all waters closed to taking mud crabs.
Equipment
The fishing gear allowed depends on how many C1 symbols are attached to the primary commercial fishing licence.
When the symbol appears:
- once: maximum of 50 pots, collapsible traps or dillies can be used at the same time
- twice: maximum of 100 pots, collapsible traps or dillies can be used at the same time
- three times: maximum of 150 pots, collapsible traps and dillies can be used at the same time.
No more than 100 pots, collapsible traps or dillies may be used at the same time to take crabs in the Hervey Bay crab area or Moreton Bay crab area.
Crab apparatus must be checked at least every 7 days after being set.
Pots
Crab pots must have prescribed escape vents, either:
- large rectangular escape vent: means a rectangular opening in an item of crab apparatus that is at least 120mm long and 50mm wide
- round escape vent: means a round opening in an item of crab apparatus that has a diameter of at least 105mm.
Dillies
A dilly must have:
- an area within its frame of no more than 1m2
- and
- a net drop below its frame of no more than 10cm.
A dilly's net must have:
- only 1 layer of mesh and each mesh in the layer must be square or rectangular
- a mesh size of at least 25mm.
Size and take limits
- It is prohibited to take female mud crabs – they must be immediately returned to the water.
- Minimum length of 15cm across widest part of its carapace (tip to tip).
