North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Had a look at the NT Fisheries Act and Regs.

46AF General defence for Subdivisions 2 and 3

[i]It is a defence to a charge of an offence against Subdivision 2 or 3 if the defendant proves that the fish that are the subject of the charge were:

(a) taken under a licence or permit; or

(b) at the defendant's place of permanent residence.

Looks like the exemption of possession at the permanent place of residence hasn't been changed after all.

You're right, Eman.

Legislation needs resources to make it effective (but you've got to start somewhere).

Trying to apply possession limits to a trafficking problem can't work, particularly when possession limits don't apply to the permanent place of residence.

We don't have exemptions for the permanent place of residence in Qld but the same approach in all other respects won't work here either.

The end result in both states will be a severe depletion in black jew fish stocks.

For the 20 years to 2015, the commercial take of black jew in Qld was 3 tonnes per year.

In 2016, that jumped to 11 tonnes.

In 2017, it went to 30 tonnes.

2018 is headed higher again.

I couldn't find any quotas set.

Black jew fillets haven't increased in popularity or price at anywhere near that rate.

For the 20 years to 2015, the commercial take of black jew in Qld was 3 tonnes per year.

In 2016, that jumped to 11 tonnes.

In 2017, it went to 30 tonnes.

2018 is headed higher again.

I couldn't find any quotas set.

Black jew fillets haven't increased in popularity or price at anywhere near that rate.


Hey ronje,one of the local pro]s here in prossy has put 14t though the co-op in the last 12 months.

How simple it would be to check throughput at the Prossie Co-Op against DPI returns to see what's going on in the industry.


To be honest, I cant see how a pro would be breaking the existing law by increasing black jew take even if it was for bladders. The law needs to be changed to prevent exploitation.

If not changed, the end result will simply be the legal extermination of black jew in Qld.

Recreational people doing the same thing will make the extermination faster but their contribution (if done more than 2 at a time) would be illegal extermination.

Its called poaching in Africa with elephant ivory and rhino horns.

Its called poaching in Aus when an overseas vessel is caught in Aus waters without a licence. Be OK of they purchased a licence though.

Those figures I quoted are from Fisheries Q-Fish data base by calendar year. Anybody can access it.

If he recorded the catch like he's supposed to, some of them would have gone into Qld's 2017 total ( 30 tonnes) and some into this years (2018) total which hasn't finished yet.

Anecdotally, 2018 is going to be greater then 2017 total.

An inexplicable increase in black jew take by pros will be paralleled by a similar increase in black jew take by recreational fishermen and points to similar reasons..

If the increases aren't investigated, then a point will be reached when the black jew numbers will suddenly be found to be in crisis. Qld Fisheries track record is to not expend resources until/unless they have to. Reactive management not good management.

Fisheries get paid $7 million per year to carry out duties for Maritime Safety Qld (chasing up mums, dads and kids at boat ramps) and that accounts for 50% of their field budget. 88 Fisheries patrol officers with 44 of them chasing up life-jacket stuff for another Govt Dept yet they claim that they are too short of resources to do more investigative intelligence gathering.

High compliance rates for lifejackets is apparently more important to this Minister than managing fisheries (the core responsibility). Tell Maritime Safety Qld to employ their own inspectors to chase up life jackets.

I'll show you how to interrogate DPIs Q-Fish database if you want.