NSW Commercial Fishing Catch and Effort Reporting

The commercial catch reporting arrangements in New South Wales, revised in July 2009, have been developed to address the requirements for finer scale (spatial and temporal) information. This information provides a basis for supporting fisheries management and planning processes enabling more robust stock assessments to be completed and supporting the maintenance of export approvals provided by the federal government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The arrangements also allow for more efficient administration processes and aligns reporting with the new share management fisheries arrangements which commenced in February 2007.

Fishing business owners or their nominees are required to use the relevant logbook or the FisherDirect online reporting portal to record the details of all commercial fishing activity performed under a New South Wales fishing authority.

In addition to these reporting requirements, fishers participating in quota managed activities are required to report their activity via the FisherMobile application.

Key detail of the current reporting requirements, including associated forms, instructions and samples are provided below.

Information for operators in General Fisheries

For full details of the reporting requirements refer to the detailed instructions included in the Logbook. The following reporting arrangements apply to operators in the Estuary General, Estuary Prawn Trawl, Ocean Hauling, Ocean Trawl, Ocean Trap and Line and the Inland Restricted Fishery.

Logbooks – Each logbook contains 60 log sheets in duplicate and comes complete with detailed instructions for completing log sheets. The logbook supports the reporting of activity across most fisheries removing the requirement for fishing business owners to submit multiple log sheet types when fishing across multiple fisheries in a reporting period. Sample general fisheries logbook (PDF, 8328.79 KB) includes an example of a completed log sheet.

Temporal and Spatial Scale - The reporting period remains monthly with log sheets required to be submitted within 28 days of the end of each calendar month, unless specified otherwise. The log sheet is designed to capture fishing activity at an event based scale. For reporting purposes, a fishing event is defined as any unique combination of date fished, location fished, fishing endorsement activated, and fishing method used. When fishing in multiple adjoining fishing locations, fishers are required to report the “location where most fish were caught” rather than each location fished separately. In the trawl fishery where multiple shots are made in multiple adjoining fishing locations, fishers are required to report the “start location of the shot that landed the most fish”.

Fishers in estuarine fisheries are required to specify an estuary code identifying the estuary where fishing activity occurred for each fishing event. Lists of estuaries, fishing methods and endorsement codes are included in the logbook.

A grid based spatial scale is used in the ocean based fisheries and for the Inland fishery. The scale comprises of “Grid Codes” at a 1 degree scale where each grid code is further sub-divided into 100 “Site Codes” at a 6 minute scale. Map sheets are provided in the logbooks to enable fishers to identify the Grid and Site codes to report for each fishing activity. Alternatively, fishers may report fishing locations using absolute latitudes and longitudes to the nearest 6 minutes using the GDA-94 datum. The map sheets are included in the logbooks issued to fishing business owners.

Species Reporting – A coded species list is used to accurately report species caught. All landed catch must be reported using these codes. This list is included in the logbook and here (PDF, 442.33 KB).

Information for operators in the Lobster Fishery

For full details of the reporting requirements refer to the detailed instructions included in the Logbook. Some of the key reporting arrangements for fishers operating in the Lobster fishery are as follows:

Logbooks – Fishing business owners are issued with a Lobster Fishery Catch and Effort logbook per fishing business owned. Each logbook contains 60 log sheets in duplicate and comes complete with detailed instructions for completing log sheets to record details of commercial fishing undertaken on behalf of the fishing business. The logbook (PDF, 3735.19 KB) includes an example of a completed log sheet together and a limited supply of Threatened Species Interaction Reporting Forms and Nil Fishing Activity Reporting Forms.

Spatial Scale - A grid based spatial scale is used in the Lobster fishery. The scale comprises “Grid Codes” at a 1 degree scale where each grid code is further sub-divided into 100 “Site Codes” at a 6 minute scale. Map sheets are provided in the logbooks to enable fishers to identify the Grid and Site codes to report for each fishing activity. Alternatively, fishers may report fishing locations using absolute latitudes and longitudes to the nearest 6 minutes. The map sheets are included in the logbooks issued to fishing business owners.

Reporting Catch of By-Product – Lobster fishing business owners are issued with general fisheries catch and effort logbook to enable them to accurately report their by-product. A ‘tick box’ is included on each Lobster fishery log sheet to indicate if by-product was taken. Where by-product is taken, fishers are required to report detail of the by-product taken using a log sheet from the general fisheries catch and effort logbook. See “Information for Commercial Fishers in General Fisheries”  above for further details.

Penning/Onshore Storage of Lobsters – Prior to “penning” lobsters or storing lobsters onshore, fishers are required to include the weight of these lobsters as part of the validated weight reported in Part C of the log sheet, to tag the lobsters being penned or stored and to report the latitude and longitude of pen/onshore storage locations in degrees and decimal minutes to 2 decimal places. In addition, when “penning” lobsters, fishers must report the tag numbers of the lobsters placed in pens. Fishers must also report the tag numbers of lobsters removed from pens.

Information for Operators in the Abalone Fishery

For full details of the reporting requirements refer to the detailed instructions included in the Logbook. Some of the key reporting arrangements for fishing business owners operating in the Abalone fishery are as follows:

Logbooks – Fishing business owners are issued with an Abalone Fishery Catch and Effort logbook per fishing business owned. Each logbook contains 60 log sheets in triplicate and comes complete with detailed instructions for completing log sheets to record details of commercial fishing undertaken on behalf of the fishing business. The logbook supports the reporting of activity in the Abalone fishery. The logbook (PDF, 961.76 KB) includes an example of a completed log sheet, together with a limited supply of Threatened Species Interaction Reporting Forms and Nil Fishing Activity Reporting Forms.

Spatial Scale - Fishers are required to report the fishing locations by “bin” in degrees and minutes to one decimal place of latitude and longitude.

Log Sheet Submission Process – Each log sheet in the logbook is provided in triplicate. The original log sheet is required to be submitted by the authorised fisher within the required period once completed. The first copy of the log sheet is to travel with the product and the second copy remains in the logbook.

Information for operators in the Sea Urchin and Turban Shell Fishery

For full details of the reporting requirements refer to the detailed instructions included in the Logbook. Some of the key reporting arrangements for fishing business owners operating in the Sea Urchin and Turban Shell fishery are as follows:

Logbooks – Fishing business are issued with a Sea Urchin and Turban Shell Fishery Catch and Effort logbook per fishing business owned. Each logbook contains 60 log sheets in duplicate and come complete with detailed instructions for completing log sheets to record details of commercial fishing undertaken on behalf of the fishing business. The logbook (PDF, 971.54 KB) includes an example of a completed log sheet, together with a limited supply of Threatened Species Interaction Reporting Forms and Nil Fishing Activity Reporting Forms.

Spatial Scale - Fishers are required to report the fishing locations by “bin” in degrees and minutes to one decimal place of latitude and longitude.

Log Sheet Submission Process – Each log sheet in the logbook is provided in duplicate. The original log sheet is required to be submitted by the authorised fisher within the required period once completed. The copy remains in the logbook.

Information for Registered Fish Receivers

For full details of the reporting requirements refer to the detailed instructions included with the reporting form. Some of the key reporting arrangements for registered fish receivers are as follows:

Quarterly Report – Paper-based submission – A report template (PDF, 575.81 KB) has been produced for registered fish receivers to fulfil their reporting obligations under the legislation. There are 2 parts to the report: Part A – Total Catch for each fisher/fishing business combination; and Part B – Total Catch by species code. Registered fish receivers should download the template from this website and complete it according to the instructions on the form.

Quarterly Report – Submission by Email – An Excel spreadsheet version of the template is available for download here (XLS, 92.5 KB) for those registered fish receivers who would like the convenience of preparing quarterly reports electronically. The spreadsheet workbook contains four worksheets: Instructions, Part A, Part B and the coded species list for receivers. The spreadsheet should be completed according to the instructions provided.

Coded Species List – Registered fish receivers are required to complete Part B of the report using the NSW DPI Coded Species List for Receivers (PDF, 297.07 KB).

Contact

For enquiries about New South Wales commercial catch data, phone 1800 994 850.

Please note that other catch information may be provided for specific purposes on a fee for service basis. Costs vary according to the level of detail required. Please make any requests in writing to:

Catch Records

New South Wales Department of Primary Industries

PO BOX 4157

Coffs Harbour Jetty NSW 2450

Fax: 02 6391 4709

Email: catch.records@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Voluntary Mulloway Length Survey

DPI Fisheries is working together with NSW commercial fishing industry operators to support options, in the short term, to voluntarily contribute data to the Mulloway stock assessment analysis. Consequently, DPI Fisheries is running this trial to collect Mulloway length data. The first step will be to get feedback from fishers who have expressed a desire to contribute data. DPI will use that feedback to determine whether this method is user practical.  If the option is considered user friendly, all endorsed fishers will be notified of the opportunity to voluntarily participate in early 2024.

Access the Voluntary Mulloway Length Survey here.

For more information, please call: 1300 726 488