Management changes for east coast otter trawl
New management arrangements for the east coast otter trawl fishery commence from 1 November 2022. This follows stakeholder consultation in July 2022.
The changes include the following:
- From 1 March 2023 to 21 February 2024, the effort cap for the northern trawl region will be 250,178 effort units.
- From 1 March 2023 to 21 February 2024, the effort cap for the central trawl region will be 318,584 effort units
- From 1 November 2022 to 24 October 2023, the effort cap for the southern inshore trawl region will be 204,102 effort units.
- From 1 November 2022, fishers in the southern inshore trawl region will be restricted to 24 days of fishing per month when 70% of the effort cap is reached.
There are also a number of changes in the southern offshore trawl region:
- The region will be closed to trawl fishing from 20 September to 1 November each year.
- A new closure around North Reef (PDF, 2.3MB) will run from 20 September to 1 March each year – this year the closure will run from 1 November 2022 to 1 March 2023.
- The area has changed for the annual Caloundra–Moreton (PDF, 3.0MB) closure (20 September to 1 March).
- The annual Stradbroke Island closure area has changed (PDF, 1.4MB), and the closure will apply from 1 January to 1 March only.
Effort caps in the southern inshore and southern offshore trawl regions reset on 1 November each year. Effort caps in the northern and central trawl regions reset on 1 March each year.
Effort unit entitlements for licence holders are renewed on 1 January.