The commercial fishing industry

Fish are a multi-billion dollar industry for Australia. They are our fifth largest food producing industry in fact– worth more than $2.2 billion to our economy every year. Fish are also a healthy source of food with Australians consuming around 16kg of fish and seafood per person each year, purchased from fish markets, supermarkets and food outlets.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) manages more than 20 Commonwealth fisheries. These are worth nearly $500 million in production value alone and generate more than 72,000 tonnes of catch annually.

The largest of these by value are the Northern Prawn, Southern Bluefin Tuna, Eastern Tuna and Billfish fisheries, and the Commonwealth trawl sector of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (providing much of the table fish for east Australian residents).

The Australian Fishing Zone

The Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) is the third largest in the world, covering nearly nine million square kilometres. It extends to 200 nautical miles from the Australian coastline and also includes the waters surrounding our external territories, such as Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, and Heard and McDonald Islands in the Antarctic.

AFMA manages Commonwealth commercial fisheries. In general, these extend from 3 nautical miles out to the extent of the AFZ. The States and Northern Territory (NT) are responsible for the majority of recreational and commercial coastal and inland fishing, and inland and coastal aquaculture operations.

Because fish don’t recognise borders, AFMA shares responsibility for managing some fisheries with the States and Northern Territory. However, a general rule of thumb is that States and the Northern Territory manage inshore species, such as rock lobster and abalone, whereas AFMA generally manages deeper water finfish and tuna species.

Page last updated 4 August, 2005