Norfolk Island Fishery

Norfolk Island is an Australian external territory approximately 1500 km east of Brisbane, Queensland and 1100 km north of Auckland, New Zealand.

The fisheries in this area consist of an inshore shelf/upper slope fishery and an exploratory offshore deepwater fishery. The Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery operators also target tuna and tuna-like species in the offshore waters around Norfolk Island.

Norfolk Island Offshore Demersal Finfish Fishery

The Norfolk Island Offshore Demersal Finfish Fishery extends 200 nm from Norfolk Island, excluding the area of the Norfolk Island Inshore Fishery and abutting the New Caledonian EEZ in the north and New Zealand EEZ in the south.

Commercial fishing in this fishery goes back to the 1970s but has been sporadic and has met with variable success. There are currently no commercial fishing concessions in this fishery. Exploration of the fishery and its resources has generated a range of information but to date, this has been insufficient to define the nature of any ongoing fishery.

Norfolk Island Inshore Fishery

The Norfolk Island Inshore Fishery covers an area of approximately 67 x 40 nm and was designed to include all shelf waters surrounding Norfolk Island. No commercial fishing permits currently exist in the inshore waters adjacent to Norfolk Island although fishing is undertaken by residents of Norfolk Island. The principal species targeted in this fishery is redthroat emperor (Lethrinus miniatus).