- Expenditure was estimated at $2.05 billion. ac
- A fourth state-wide survey of recreational fishing was completed.
- 89 new projects, worth more than $19 million, were approved for funding from the Recreational Fishing Trusts.


Participation and Effort
Recreationally caught species are also monitored through the charter boat fishery monitoring program. Capturing information on catch, effort, fish measurements, fisher demographics and wildlife observations, the program requires charter operators to complete logbooks and host scientific observers.
During 2019-20, 99 charter boat businesses operated in NSW waters, compared with 119 in 2017-18, and hosted scientific observers on over 400 occasions. Almost 5,000 fishing trips were undertaken, with around 52,000 anglers (down from 86,000 in 2017-18 and 80,000 in 2016–17). Although COVID-19 and the bushfire disaster (particularly on the South Coast) caused a substantial reduction in both recreational fishing effort and charter fishing business operations through 2019-20, the sector still contributed to regional economies through expenditure on travel, accommodation and meals, in addition to charter fees, with 20% of charter clients from inland regions of NSW, interstate or overseas. 93

Charter fishing catch and effort
- Northern Region
- Central Region
- Southern Region
Catch
The charter fishing sector recorded the capture of 143 different species of finfish, cephalopods and crustaceans. The top five species caught (by number) state-wide were Snapper (19,700), Bluespotted Flathead (18,400), Grey Morwong (8,400), Yellowtail Scad (6,500) and Blue Mackerel (4,000). 93
Scientific observers on board vessels in the nearshore marine charter fishery not only recorded catch and effort data from the fishery, but also collected information on wildlife interactions with the fishery, providing one of the few sources of information on the abundance and distribution of wide-ranging threatened, endangered and protected (TEP) species, including marine mammals and seabirds. To date, on-board observers have recorded over 4,000 individuals of more than 30 species in the vicinity of fishing vessels. The most commonly encountered group have been seabirds (including albatrosses and shearwaters), however, almost 500 marine mammals have also been observed comprising dolphins, seals and whales. 94
Importantly, direct interactions with the fishery have been shown to be rare with only 33 recorded at a rate of just 5.2 interactions per 100 hours of fishing. Seals were involved in most interactions (21) with seabirds involved in just 12. A single bycatch incident involving a shearwater (released alive) has been so far recorded in over 1,100 hours of observed fishing, highlighting the extremely low impact of this fishery on non-target wildlife species. 94
Size composition of key species harvested by the NSW charter fishery
Size composition of key species harvested by the NSW charter fishery
Size composition of key species harvested by the NSW charter fishery
Size composition of key species harvested by the NSW charter fishery
Recreational Fishing Trusts
Projects approved for funding from the Recreational Fishing Trusts in 2020-21
*$750,000 for 2019-20 3.9% and $750,000 for 2020-21 3.9%.
A total of 474,517 licences (three day, one month, one year and three year) were sold during 2020–21. Recreational fishers are able to purchase licences through a variety of channels, including Agent Network (paper licences), Touch Agent (EFTPOS Terminal licences), Integrated Voice Recognition (IVR) automated phone numbers, online, over the counter, mail and BPAY. Online sales are by far the most popular option, accounting for 78% of sales. 96
Recreational fishing licence sales in 2020-21
- Online
- Agent - Paper
- BPAY
- IVR
- Phone
- OTC
- Agent - Touch