Fishing is one of the most popular recreational activities in Queensland.

Line fishing and Trolling

Zoning within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park allows for:

• Line fishing in the General Use (Light Blue) and Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) Zones
• Limited line fishing in a Conservation Park (Yellow) Zone (one hand-held rod or one hand-held line per person, with no more than one hook attached to that line)
• Trolling in the General Use (Light Blue) Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) and Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones with limits on the number of lines and hooks per person
• Trolling for pelagic species in the Buffer (Olive Green) Zone with limits on the number of lines and hooks per person.

Bait netting

Bait netting is allowed in the General Use (Light Blue), Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) and Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones. Bait netting means the use of a net of dimension and mesh size as prescribed in relevant Queensland fisheries legislation.

Crabbing (trapping)

Crabbing (trapping) may be undertaken by recreational fishers using no more than four apparatus per person in the General Use (Light Blue), Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) and Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones. Crabbing (trapping) is using apparatus such as crab pots, collapsible traps, dillies or inverted dillies of the number and dimensions prescribed in Queensland fisheries legislation. Please refer to the Queensland Government's Marine Park (Great Barrier Reef Coast) Zoning Plan 2004 for additional Queensland legislation for crabbing.

Spearfishing

Limited spearfishing is allowed in the General Use (Light Blue), Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) and Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones.

Limited spearfishing means fishing with a spear or speargun, NOT using a powerhead, or firearm, a light or underwater breating apparatus other than a snorkel.

However, all spearfishing is prohibited in those Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones that are also declared Public Appreciation Special Management Areas. These areas are shown as broken pink lines on the Zoning Maps.

Under Queensland fisheries legislation additional spearfishing closures exist in the following General Use (Light Blue) and Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) Zones in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park:

• On the western and southern foreshores of Great Keppel and North Keppel Island (see map below) - these areas extend 400m from the coastline
• The foreshores and waters seaward 50m from low water mark from the boat ramp in Greys Bay around Cape Edgecumbe to the eastern headland of Horseshoe Bay
• View www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb for more information on closed waters and spearfishing restrictions.

Marine aquarium fish collection

• Marine aquarium fish may be taken from General Use (Light Blue), Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) and Conservation Park (Yellow) Zones, for use in personal fish tanks, under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park limited collecting provisions
• No collection is allowed in Conservation park (Yellow) Zones that are declared Public Appreciation Special Management Areas - these areas are shown as broken pink lines on the Zoning Maps
• The only underwater breathing apparatus that may be used for collection purposes is a commonly available type of snorkel
• View www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb for more information on restrictions for marine aquarium fish species.
  

Please note, limited collecting provisions prohibit the take of coral (live or dead) in the Marine Park, this includes anemones.

• Find out more about Special Management Areas
• View diagram of hook definitions  [Adobe Acrobat Format 1.42MB]
  

Limited Collecting

If you are visiting a General Use (Light Blue), Habitat Protection (Dark Blue) or Conservation Park (Yellow) Zone in the Marine Park, you may generally collect up to five shells, fish or invertebrates of any one species. Collecting is not permitted in other zones. Please check Zoning Maps for the area you are visiting before collecting, together with limitations in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983. To collect greater numbers of species or to collect coral, you require a specific Marine Park permit. There are some species of shells, fish and invertebrates that are protected and may not be collected.

You must not collect any coral (alive or dead) without a permit. On national park islands everything is protected, including shells.