SA recreational snapper fishing bans push out to 2026

The expansion to the closure, which includes Spencer Gulf Fishing Zone, West Coast Fishing Zone and Gulf St Vincent/Kangaroo Island Fishing Zone, means the fisheries will be closed to snapper fishers until June 30, 2026.

The extension comes in the wake of a report last year into how the state’s snapper stocks were recovering. A survey in 2020 found a 78 per cent reduction in the Spencer Gulf/West Coast zone and a 90 per cent reduction in the Gulf St Vincent zone since 2013.

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Last year’s survey found that while SA’s snapper population had stopped growing smaller, the number of fish was still regarded as “depleted”.

“Following the release of the SARDI (South Australian Research and Development Institute) Snapper Stock Assessment Report 2022, the Marine Scalefish Fishery Management Advisory Committee, made up of industry, recreational and traditional fishing experts, and fisheries management, economics and science representatives, recommended that the West Coast/Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent Snapper fisheries remain closed,” the Department of Primary Industries and Regions said in a statement announcing the extension.

“While the Snapper Stock Assessment Report 2022 has shown an arrest in the decline of the fishable biomass, the Spencer Gulf/West Coast and Gulf St Vincent stocks remain depleted,” it said.

“The extended closure will help snapper stocks to recover as quickly as possible, allowing you to fish for snapper well into the future.”

Snapper has been a no-take species over a large part of SA’s coastline since a ban was first introduced in 2019. The ban was meant to expire at the end of this month.

The only place where recreational snapper fishers can legally wet a line and target the species is in the state’s south-east, although anglers must report their catch and the season will be closed if the quota of 2585 fish is met before the June 30, 2023 cut-off.

In the state's south-east, the daily bag limit for snapper is one per person, and up to three in a boat if there are more than three people onboard. Fish must be at least 38cm in size.

If anglers in other zones hook a snapper while fishing for other species, they must carefully return them to the water immediately.

The state is embarking on an ambitious plan to restock the depleted fisheries, with almost one million snapper fingerlings as part of a $2.5 million support package aimed at helping the fish stocks recover across both gulfs.