NSW, Australia Recreational Fishing Rules and Regulations

In NSW State, Fishing License is Required

When fishing in NSW waters, both freshwater and saltwater, you are required by law to pay the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee and carry a receipt showing the payment of the fee. This applies when spear fishing, hand lining, hand gathering, trapping, bait collecting and prawn netting or when in possession of fishing gear in, on or adjacent to waters.

All money raised by the NSW Recreational Fishing Fee is placed into the Recreational Fishing Trusts and spent on improving recreational fishing in NSW. These trusts are regulated by law and overseen by two committees made up of recreational fishers - one for saltwater and one for freshwater.

Line Fishing

• No more than 4 rods or lines to be used or set by any one person at any one time.
• No more than 3 hooks or 3 gangs of hooks attached per line (a gang of hooks should have no more than 5 hooks).
• One line may have 6 single hooks with lure attached to be used by the method of hand jigging only.
• No more than 3 treble hooks attached to a lure.
• Jagging is illegal (hooking, or attempting to hook, fish other than through the mouth).
• Drift lines are banned.

Illegal Fishing Methods

The following fishing methods are illegal:

• Jagging or foul hooking fish;
• Keeping prohibited size fish (they should be returned to the water unharmed);.
• Selling recreational catch;
• Using a gaff to take fish or using setlines, spearguns, spears, bows and arrows, chemicals or poisons, explosives or firearms or traps and nets to take fish (other than the lawful use of yabby traps, hoop nets or a shrimp trap as per the regulations);
• Using frogs, live finfish (including carp), live birds, live mammals, prohibited size fish or salmon roe or products containing them, as bait;
• Altering the length of any fish with a size limit by filleting or removing the head (other than by gutting or by removing the gills or scale) until you are well away from the water. This does not apply at areas normally used for the cleaning of fish (boat ramp cleaning tables) or if the fish are for immediate consumption or for immediate use as bait. Note. Fish with a size limit must be of legal size before they can be used as bait;
• Removing tails, heads or claws from crayfish in, on or adjacent to waters or to keep any crayfish with eggs or to remove those eggs;
• In notified trout waters, in addition to the illegal fishing methods described above, it is illegal to use handlines (rods and lines only are permitted), traps and nets (other than hoop nets in Lakes Eucumbene and Jindabyne as per the regulation or a landing net for retrieving legally hooked fish), a light or a hand to take Atlantic salmon or trout;
• Taking Murray crayfish in notified trout waters or in Blowering Dam;
• Accessing any waters across private property to fish without permission (in most cases you may fish in any stream from a boat or while walking on the streambed, regardless of who owns the adjacent land. However, you must get the owner's permission to cross private land or walk along the bank adjacent to a stream).
  

Collecting invertebrates (including crabs, worms, squid, cockles etc)

All invertebrates are subject to bag limits and some are also subject to size limits.

• All lobsters and crabs carrying eggs must be returned immediately to the water. Check all females as the eggs are plainly visible under the tail. It is an offence to remove any eggs.
• Invertebrates may not be shucked (removed from their shells) at the waterside unless they are to be used immediately as bait.
• Collecting invertebrates is prohibited within Intertidal Protected Areas such as Sydney Harbour and some zones within Auquatic Reserves and NSW Marine Parks.
• Octopus cannot be taken from ocean rock platforms in NSW or from rock platforms in Sydney Harbour.
  

Humane harvesting of Fin-fish

It is important to be able to apply humane dispatching methods to any fish that are to be harvested. Percussive stunning is considered a good approach provided it is done swiftly and delivered to the correct area. Fish should be hit with a sharp blow to the head in the area just above the eyes (the area adjacent to the brain) using a special tool such as a heavy wooden handle or a priest. When applied correctly the fish’s gill covers should stop rhythmically moving and the eye should remain still. Fish should only be bled after the fish has been dispatched.

Species		Size limits or legal length (cm)	Bag limit
Australian bass & estuary perch	Australian bass Closed season in rivers and estuaries June - August incl.	Only 1 over 35cm	2 in total *, 4 in possesion
	Estuary perch Closed season in rivers and estuaries June - August incl.
Australian salmon	Australian salmon	-	5
Bluefish	Bluefish	-	0 - release only Lord Howe Marine Park 5
Bonito	Bonito	-	10
Bream & tarwhine	Bream (Black/southern)	25 cm	20 in total *
	Bream (Yellowfin)	25 cm
	Tarwhine	20 cm
Deep-sea fish	Hapuka	-	5 in total *, gemfish: only 2 and boat trip limit of 10
	Bar Cod	-
	Bass groper	-
	Gemfish	-
	Blue-eye cod	-
Dolphinfish	Dolphinfish	60 cm, only 1 over 110 cm	10
Eels	Eels (Short and longfinned)	(Shortfinned) 30cm (Longfinned) 58cm	(Shortfinned) 10 (Longfinned) 10
Flathead	Flathead (Dusky/common)	36cm, only 1 over 70cm	10
	Flathead (Sand)	33 cm	20 in total *
	Flathead (Tiger)
Flounder & sole	Flounders and Soles	25cm	20 in total *
Garfish	Garfish (eastern sea)	-	20
Groper	Groper (blue, brown, red)	30cm, only 1 over 60cm	2 in total *, by line only
Hairtail	Hairtail	-	10
Kingfish, yellowtail	Kingfish, yellowtail	65 cm	5
Leatherjackets	Leatherjackets	-	20 in total *
Luderick	Luderick	27 cm	20
Mackerel	Mackerel (Spanish)	(Spanish) 75cm	5 in total *
	Mackerel (Spotted)	(Spotted) 60cm
Mangrove Jack	Mangrove Jack	-	5
Marlin	Marlin (Striped)	-	1 of each species
	Marlin (Black)
	Marlin (Blue)
Morwong	Morwong (Rubberlip)	30cm	10
	Morwong (Jackass)	30cm	10
	Morwong (Red/sea carp)	30cm	5
	Morwong (Banded)	-	5
Moses perch	Moses perch	-	5
Mullet	Mullet	Small (poddy) Under 15 cm	20 in total * for live bait only
		Sea (bully) only 30 cm	20 in total *
Mulloway	Mulloway	45 cm only 2 fish over 70 cm	5
Pearl perch	Pearl perch	30 cm	5
Red rock cod	Red rock cod (Scorpionfish)	-	5
Rock blackfish	Rock blackfish	30 cm	10
Sailfish	Sailfish	-	1
Samson & Amberjack	Samsonfish Amberjack	-	5 in total *
Sawtail surgeon	Sawtail surgeon	-	5
Sharks and rays	Shark (Wobbegong)	-	0 for wobbegong (release only).
	Shark (Mako)	-	5 in total *, only 1 tiger, mako, blue shark, hammerhead or other whaler species.
	Shark (School)	91 cm
	Shark (Whaler)	-
Snapper	Snapper	30 cm	10
Spearfish	Spearfish	-	1
Swordfish	Swordfish	-	1
Tailor	Tailor	30 cm	20
Teraglin	Teraglin	38 cm	5
Trevallies	Trevallies	(silver trevally only) 30 cm	20 in total *
Tuna	Tuna (Albacore)	90 cm or above Less than 90 cm	2 in total * 5 in total *
	Tuna (Big-eye)
	Tuna (Longtail)
	Tuna (Southern bluefin)
	Tuna (Yellowfin)
Wahoo	Wahoo	-	5
Whiting	Whiting	(sand only) 27 cm	20 in total *

Australian bass Estuary perch	Closed season in rivers June - August incl.	-	2* (only 1 over 35 cm in rivers)
Blackfish - river	Fishing prohibited in all waters	0	0
Catfish, freshwater or eel-tailed	Western waters: Closed to fishing in all western flowing waters incl. unlisted western dams.	30 cm (in listed western dams) 30 cm (in eastern dams) 30 cm (in eastern rivers)	5 (in listed western dams) 5 (in eastern dams) 2 (in eastern rivers)
	All other waters	30 cm	2
Murray crayfish +	Closed season September – April inclusive. Fishing prohibited in notified trout waters and Blowering Dam.	9 cm	5 (only 1 over 12cm).
Crayfish - Spiny or eastern freshwater +	N/A	9 cm	5 * (only 1 over 12cm).
Eels (short finned)	N/A	30 cm	10 in total
Eels (long finned)	N/A	58 cm	10 in total
Golden perch	N/A	30 cm	5
Murray cod	Closed season September - November incl.	50 cm before 30/11/07 55 cm from 1/12/07 to 1/12/08 60 cm after 1/12/08.	2 (only 1 over 100 cm in total)
Silver perch	Fishing prohibited in rivers.	25 cm (in listed stocked dams)	5 0 in rivers
Atlantic salmon Brown trout Brook trout Rainbow trout	Various	50 cm (trout spawning streams (no bait fishing))	1*
		25 cm (artificial fly and lure)	2*
		25 cm (general trout waters)	5*
		25 cm (all other waters)	10*
Yabbies - freshwater +	N/A	-	200 in total
Unlisted native species	N/A	N/A	10 in total