{"id":23926,"date":"2025-12-03T09:52:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=23926"},"modified":"2025-12-03T09:52:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T09:52:12","slug":"commercial-deep-sea-fisheries-in-wa-close-totally-across-900-km","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/12\/03\/commercial-deep-sea-fisheries-in-wa-close-totally-across-900-km\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial deep sea fisheries in WA close totally across 900 km\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Deep sea fisheries spanning 900 km along the Western Australia (WA) coastline and metropolitan Perth have closed commercially to save demersal species. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The WA\u2019s government stated on December 3, 2025 that the permanent ban aims to rejuvenate snapper, red emperor and dhufish species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Provisionally, the Kalbarri-Perth metro-Augusta coastline remains permanently off limits for commercial fishers for the whole of December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commercial harvesters will no longer fish here eventually but will enjoy a governmental license buyback worth A$20 million ($13.2 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reacting to this surprise news, the WA Fishing Industry Council\u2019s chief executive Melissa Haslam remarked the inadequacy of the buyback kitty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re talking over 70 license holders&#8230;$20 million, it would be laughable if it wasn\u2019t serious\u201d she told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2025-12-03\/perth-wa-strict-fishing-ban-commercial-recreational-fishers\/106095814\"><u>ABC<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Haslam opines that the common consumer will bear with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/insights\/prices\/australia\/live-fish\/\"><u>fish price<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;hikes or even never again enjoy eating certain species.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apart from the total commercial ban on the Kalbarri-Augusta coastline, partial restrictions will take place on other coasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of these is Perth, the capital of WA, but applicable only outside the metropolitan coast (already under the permanent commercial ban).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perth\u2019s exterior coast will attract 50% bag limit cuts for recreational fishers that use vessels, in force till September 2027.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After the southern spring 2027, the whole of the Perth and WA coast will turn into a recreational-only demersal fishery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-northern-southern-commercial-fishing-exceptions\"><strong>Northern\/Southern Commercial Fishing Exceptions &nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Deep sea fisheries in the northern WA from Pilbara to Kimberley will have provisional 50% catch limits starting January 1, 2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A similar provision applies to the state\u2019s South Coast, which geographically stretches for some 1,600 km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later on the provisional limit will transition into a permanent quota system that will depend on similar successes elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of these success stories is the Gascoyne coast in the state\u2019s northwest. It is the only one without demersal fishing restrictions for what the Ministry of Fisheries calls \u201csuccess of efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, WA\u2019s west coast will have charter fishing limits of 25 tonnes annually for deep sea species,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.perthnow.com.au\/lifestyle\/fishing\/permanent-demersal-fishing-ban-across-nearly-900km-of-wa-coastline-to-impact-everyone-c-20877982\"><u>under the tag system<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Perth metro coast however will not allow charter fishing for the remainder of this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trawling (net dragging) remains under ban in the only commercially applicable coast (Pilbara), to protect dolphin entanglement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This most notable change in Australia\u2019s fishing history seeks to restock seriously depleted demersal biomass. The stats below follow up the sensitive issue with succinct biomass details.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-western-australia-wa-deep-sea-fisheries-statistics\"><strong>Western Australia (WA) Deep Sea Fisheries&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Statistics&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Western Australia may be famous for rock lobster worth&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0165783603002340\"><u>A$750 million<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;($493.5 million) as of 2019, but it also hosts iconic demersal fish. These include groper, dhufish, snapper and others that comb the ocean floor. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (<a href=\"https:\/\/library.dpird.wa.gov.au\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&amp;context=an_sofar\"><u>DPIRD<\/u><\/a>) estimates 3,000 fish species inhabit WA\u2019s coast between 10\u00baS and 40\u00baS latitudes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of these numerous species live deep in the sea but are fast depleting due to fishing efforts. As of early December 2025, the WA\u2019s biomass (spawning stock) of demersals (northern\/southern snapper and dhufish) was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2025-12-03\/perth-wa-strict-fishing-ban-commercial-recreational-fishers\/106095814\"><u>20%<\/u><\/a>. This indicates a depletion of 80% of the spawning biomass, per&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.perthnow.com.au\/lifestyle\/fishing\/permanent-demersal-fishing-ban-across-nearly-900km-of-wa-coastline-to-impact-everyone-c-20877982\"><u>Perth Now<\/u><\/a>, quoting the DPIRD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In early December 2025, the government therefore permanently banned commercial fishing in some coasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the buyback and restocking package after the 2025 demersal ban in WA?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following diverse fishing restrictions, the government announced on December 3, 2025 to restock demersal fish at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.perthnow.com.au\/lifestyle\/fishing\/permanent-demersal-fishing-ban-across-nearly-900km-of-wa-coastline-to-impact-everyone-c-20877982\"><u>A$29.2 million<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;($19.2 million). A part of this sum includes A$20 million ($13.2 million) to pay back displaced commercial fishers. Another A$1.9 million ($1.25 million) is for other recreational fishers while A$3.3 million ($2.17 million) for recreational boat tackle shops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What is the demersal fish catch status in Western Australia?<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DPIRD finds commercial fishing effort (limit) for WA\u2019s south and west coast demersal finfish at below&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/library.dpird.wa.gov.au\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&amp;context=an_sofar\"><u>240 tonnes<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;a year (2023). The department reported commercial catch for these deep sea species on these two coasts in 2023 at 282 tonnes, which is unacceptable. But it found the Gascoyne coast\u2019s demersal snapfish limit acceptable at 48.3 tonnes (2023).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deep sea fisheries spanning 900 km along the Western Australia (WA) coastline and metropolitan Perth have closed commercially to save demersal species. &nbsp; The WA\u2019s government stated on December 3, 2025 that the permanent ban aims to rejuvenate snapper, red emperor and dhufish species. Provisionally, the Kalbarri-Perth metro-Augusta coastline remains permanently off limits for commercial&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Commercial deep sea fisheries in WA close totally across 900 km\u00a0 - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/12\/03\/commercial-deep-sea-fisheries-in-wa-close-totally-across-900-km\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commercial deep sea fisheries in WA close totally across 900 km\u00a0 - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Deep sea fisheries spanning 900 km along the Western Australia (WA) coastline and metropolitan Perth have closed commercially to save demersal species. &nbsp; The WA\u2019s government stated on December 3, 2025 that the permanent ban aims to rejuvenate snapper, red emperor and dhufish species. 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