North Australian FISH FINDER forums

WA introduced what has been reported as a "boat-based demersal scalefish fishing ban" for its West Coast Bioregion.

I asked WA fisheries comms for clarity on this, eg could people bottom fish for herring and whatnot, their answer, to quote: "The use of small paternoster rigs (e.g. whiting, silver trevally), midwater rigs (e.g. herring) and float rigs (e.g. herring, garfish) are still permitted for targeting non-demersal species. Trolling for pelagic scalefish species also continues to be permitted."

In other words, it's not so much a "boat-based bottom fishing ban" as a no-take of demersal scalefish species.

Demersal fish (reefies) can be caught many ways - jigging, deep trolling etc, so a no-take is the only way to word it really.

The ban is for demersal species of Dhufish, pink snapper , baldchin and blue groper and a couple of others that you get as bycatch with those species. You are not allowed to target those fish but when you are out king george whiting fishing you cant tell those ones not to eat the baits, just not allowed to bring them into the boat apparently.Still plenty of pink snapper being caught off the beaches in the state and a few dhufish off the rocks with drones which are allowed to be kept as its land based.