1. Home »
  2. Primary industries » Commercial fishing » Commercial fisheries »
  3. Miscellaneous fishery

Miscellaneous fishery

The miscellaneous fishery includes:

  • species that are not in management arrangements of existing commercial fisheries
  • specialised fisheries
  • multiple types of fishing gear.

Many of the fisheries included are low production, low value, or both. Biological information on most of the miscellaneous species is limited.

Species taken by the miscellaneous fishery are:

  • sea urchins
  • scallop
  • native oyster
  • giant crab
  • Australian salmon
  • beachcast seagrass and macro-algae
  • Eyre golden perch
  • Welch's grunter
  • Barcoo grunter.

Licensing

There are no new licences available in the miscellaneous fishery and licences are non-transferable.

Expiry

Miscellaneous fishery licences expire on 30 June every year.

Fees

Commercial licence fees must be paid each financial year. Invoices are issued annually in June. Payments can be made:

  • up-front
  • in a lump sum
  • in quarterly instalments.

Boat registration and de-registration

Every boat that is used for commercial fishing must be registered.

To register or de-register a boat use the application to vary a boat registration endorsement (PDF 139.7 KB).

Vessel monitoring system

Miscellaneous fishery licences that take giant crabs are required to have an operational vessel monitoring system (VMS) fitted to their boat.

Get more information about vessel monitoring system (VMS).

Boat master registration

Everyone who will act as a boat master must be registered and endorsed on the miscellaneous fishery licence.

Use the Application to change registration of a master/s (PDF 188.7 KB).

Miscellaneous fishery giant crab quota transfer

Licence holders with giant crab quota can negotiate to transfer their quota entitlements to another licence holder. This can be done on a temporary or permanent basis. More details about quota transfers are available on the form:

Application to transfer giant crab quota units (PDF 159.6 KB)

Miscellaneous fishery management

The miscellaneous fishery is regulated by:

There is no management plan for the miscellaneous fishery. There are policies for the harvest of giant crabs in the miscellaneous fishery and rock lobster fishery, the commercial harvest of a range of species (including scallops, sea urchins, turbo and native oysters) by diving, and the harvest of beach-cast marine algae:

Management arrangements for the miscellaneous fishery depend on licence or permit conditions. They may include:

  • total allowable commercial catch (TACC) for giant crab and catch limits for other species
  • restrictions on gear quantity and type that can be used
  • closed seasons
  • protection of spawning female giant crabs and size limits
  • non-transferrable licences
  • vessel monitoring system and boat master registration.

Giant crab enhanced data collection project

Biological information for the giant crab is limited because of its deep-water habitat, its life history traits, and the small size of the fishery. This makes it difficult to effectively monitor the stock status of this fishery. 'Giant Crab Enhanced Data Collection – Innovative approaches to enhance data collection in the Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian Giant Crab fisheries' is a collaborative project to address this knowledge gap by developing technology and data collection to improve fishery decision making and sustainability.

The project will:

  • develop and trial vessel-based camera technology to automate the collection of biological data in Giant Crab fisheries in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia
  • establish a central data storage location to inform cross jurisdictional management
  • investigate use of the new data to enhance stock assessments.

Contact toby.jeavons@vfa.vic.gov.au at the Victorian Fisheries Authority for more information.

Determinations

Miscellaneous fishery

Vongole fishery

Reports

There are no stock status reports for the miscellaneous fishery as a whole.

There are stock status reports for giant crabs and Australian salmon:

Department of Environment

The Commonwealth Department of the Environment requires that all commercial fisheries that export product be assessed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Product from the Miscellaneous Fishery is currently approved for export.

For more information, go to the South Australian fisheries page on the Department of the Environment website.

Closures

See the closures page for closure information.

Contact

Clint Rollins – Fisheries Management Officer
Phone: (08) 7133 7644
Email: clint.rollins@sa.gov.au

Page last reviewed: 29 Sep 2023

 

Top of page