The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), Fisheries Queensland and the Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) are working in partnership on a project to bring together and review the available ecological information on the East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery (ECOTF). The collaborative project is called 'Ecological risk assessment of the East Coast Trawl Fishery in the Great Barrier Reef'.

Over the past decade, a number of significant scientific projects have been completed providing a substantial information base to guide management of the East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery in the Great Barrier Reef and its interactions with the environment.

The management practices adopted for the fishery over the last ten years include limitations in the area available for trawling, substantial reductions in fishing effort and fleet size, the adoption of turtle excluder devices and other by-catch reduction devices, and the implementation of a satellite-based vessel monitoring system.

The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009 recognised that these management practices have substantially addressed the risk of trawling to the Great Barrier Reef.

Further information on the project

• Information Sheet 1 - Ecological risk assessment of the East Coast Trawl Fishery in the Great Barrier Reef

Related information

• Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009
• Fisheries Queensland 
• Review of the Queensland East Coast Trawl Fishery 
• Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts - Environmental Assessment of the Queensland ECOTF 
• CRC Reef - Queensland’s East Coast Trawl Fishery 
• CRC Reef – Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project 
• By-catch from the Queensland otter-trawl fishery and the effects of by-catch reduction devices 
• Reducing the impact of Queensland's trawl fisheries on protected sea snakes