You can now enjoy fishing for rock lobster all year round throughout WA waters.

The year-round extension of recreational rock lobster fishing is the result of the successful management of this highly-valued fishery.

The extended season comes with a number of other changes to fishing rules, including seasonal night curfews and the requirement to hang pot ropes more than 20 metres in length vertically in the water.

The new pot rope rules are to minimise the risk of whale entanglements and to complement existing whale interaction mitigation measures. More.

Building on the back of the success of the South West artificial reefs project, recreational fishers are set to benefit from a number of other similar reef projects at various stages of completion throughout the State.

An artificial reef is planned for Perth’s north metro waters and is one of 11 new recreational fishing projects worth almost
$2 million funded by the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund.

Work has begun on the new Esperance artificial reef with volunteers from the Esperance Fishing Club helping to pour concrete for the 128 modules that will make up the structure.

Meanwhile, the new $1 million Exmouth artificial reef, set to be one of Australia’s largest, will be located near the Exmouth Boat Harbour inside Exmouth Gulf, providing the community with new, safe and accessible fishing opportunities.

It’s the time of the year when many fishers head north to enjoy some tropical fishing in the Pilbara/Kimberley or Gascoyne regions, so it’s important for these fishers to know the fishing rules for the northern part of the State.

Rules around fishing for barramundi and mud crabs and using or possessing fish traps are among those fishers need to be across. More.

Two recreational fishers have been fined just over $7,000 for breaching bag limits and possessing undersize fish.

Ten fish were found on board the boat from which they had been fishing, including six baldchin groper and three breaksea cod, with one of the baldchin groper below the minimum size limit of 400 millimetres. More.