The annual seasonal closure for demersal finfish in the West Coast Bioregion started on 15 October.

You cannot fish for, take, bring onto land or be in possession of demersal finfish in the West Coast Bioregion (Black Point, east of Augusta, to the Zuytdorp Cliffs, north of Kalbarri) during the closed season.

Demersal finfish re-opens for fishing in the West Coast Bioregion on 16 December.

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New rules have been introduced that allow accommodation providers who also serve meals to offer fish storage and cooking services for their guests.

Guests staying in commercial accommodation that provides meals, such as resorts, can now have their recreationally-caught fish stored on the premises and prepared for them as a meal by the accommodation’s restaurant.

The restaurant cannot on-sell any of that fish or its parts to other people.

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Recreational abalone fishing in the West Coast Zone takes place over one-hour sessions on four Saturday mornings between December and February.

This summer’s abalone fishing days will be between 7am and 8am on the following Saturdays:

• 14 December 2019
• 11 January 2020
• 1 February 2020
• 15 February 2020.

If unsafe conditions are forecast, an abalone fishing day may be cancelled. If a fishing day is cancelled, a replacement day may be added to the end of the season provided it will not make catches exceed the total allowable recreational catch.

The number of fishing days may be reduced or extended following in-season monitoring to ensure the recreational catch is consistent with the allowable catch and managed in a sustainable way.

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The new blue swimmer crab closed season in Perth and the South West (Swan River to Minninup Beach, 15 km south of Bunbury) continues until 30 November.

The closed area includes the popular crabbing areas of the Swan and Canning rivers and the Peel-Harvey Estuary.

This means that the Peel-Harvey Estuary, which was previously only closed to crabbing during September and October, remains closed throughout November, re-opening for blue swimmer crab fishing on 1 December.

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