Operating a net fishery

Structural adjustment payments

Applications are still open for supply chain business diversification grants, gillnet buyback and gillnet reel boat refit grants for eligible commercial licence holders, and businesses affected by the:

  • phase-out of gillnets on the Great Barrier Reef
  • Great Sandy Marine Park rezoning
  • new Gulf of Carpentaria gillnet-free areas.

Queensland’s major commercial net fisheries are the:

Queensland's commercial net fishery is a multi-species fishery. Fishers target different species at different times of the year.

Fishery symbols

Cancelled symbols

N1, N2, N4 and S symbols are no longer valid from 1 January 2024.

East coast

  • N10: Net fishery (east coast—no. 4)
  • N11: Net fishery (no. 11)
  • N15: Net fishery (management region 5)
  • NX: Net fishery (limited life—management region 2–4)

Ocean beach

  • K1: Net fishery (ocean beach area 1)
  • K2: Net fishery (ocean beach area 2)
  • K3: Net fishery (ocean beach area 3)
  • K4: Net fishery (ocean beach area 4)
  • K5: Net fishery (ocean beach area 5)
  • K6: Net fishery (ocean beach area 6)
  • K7: Net fishery (ocean beach area 7)
  • K8: Net fishery (ocean beach area 8)

Gulf of Carpentaria

  • N3: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria—no. 1)
  • N12: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria—offshore)
  • N11: Net fishery (no. 11)
  • N13: Net fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria—offshore)

Management

Harvest strategies

Working groups

Operating areas

Ocean beach

East coast inshore

Gulf of Carpentaria

N10: Net fishery (east coast—no. 4)

  • Selected foreshore waters in:
    • Moreton Bay region
    • Great Sandy Strait region.

Licences

To operate in the fishery, you need a:

Reporting and monitoring

Commercial fishers must:

Equipment

Permitted fishing equipment varies across fishing symbols and fishing areas:

  • east coast inshore fishery use mainly mesh nets, with seine nets used in ocean beach fisheries
  • Gulf of Carpentaria inshore fishery mainly uses mesh nets.