New rules for NT fishing

The NT Government says that scientific evidence shows that golden snapper and black jewfish are being overfished and the sustainability of other popular reef fish species is under threat in the Darwin area.

In order to protect breeding fish and allow fish stocks to recover, catches by the recreational, fishing tourism and commercial fishers around the greater Darwin area must be reduced. New measures to apply across all fishing sectors will allow coastal reefs to replenish and improve for the fishing future.

Following extensive public consultation, a suite of contemporary management measures has been developed that balances biological requirements to rebuild stocks while still providing fishing opportunities. In addition to the new limits, changes in fishing behaviour to reduce the impacts of barotrauma is required to rebuild stocks in the face of future growth and technology advances in recreational fishing in the Territory.

All fishing sectors, including the commercial and fishing tour operator sectors are undergoing significant management changes to allow vulnerable reef fish stocks to rebuild to sustainable levels.

Possession limits, size limits and vessel limits
Following the release of the "Protecting our Reef Fish" consultation paper in September 2013, Fisheries coordinated a broad survey to get feedback from recreational fishers and fishing tour operators. The results of this survey indicate clear support for management changes to protect and improve the quality of fishing in the Northern Territory.

Possession and size limits are standard management tools used to control recreational fishing catches. They protect fish stocks by restricting the number or size of fish that can be taken. Size limits may not however be practical for fish prone to barotrauma. A new two-tiered vessel limit will also help reduce large catches of "at risk" reef fish by boats carrying large numbers of fishers. Aggregations of spawning schools of fish such as jewfish and golden snapper may be particularly vulnerable to concentrated fishing effort.

The general personal possession limit (GPL) will be reduced from 30 to 15 fish. This will help reduce the impact of increasing numbers of recreational fishers. Capping the personal possession limit at 15 fish per person still provides a generous quantity of fish to feed a family, while also ensuring fishing remains at sustainable levels. New specific possession limits for individual species will help protect vulnerable reef fish species and ensure high quality fishing opportunities continue into the future.

Some of the key changes include:
>> A reduction in the personal possession limit (PPL) limit for golden snapper from five to three.
>> A combined PPL of 10 red snapper (all species), within the overall GPL of 15 fish.
>> A minimum size limit for mangrove jack of 35cm (total length).
>> A maximum size limit of 90cm for barramundi and king threadfin taken in the Daly or Mary River Fish Management zones. A vessel limit of one barramundi and king threadfin over 90cm will apply to allow the retention of a fish that is unfit for release.
>> Species historically not subject to a species specific limits will have a default limit of five per person.
>> A possession limit of five fish per species unless otherwise specified.