Recreational fishing catch and participation
Key Finding
Recreational fishing is increasingly popular across the state, with almost 943,000 Queenslanders involved in recreational fishing in 2019, an increase of more than 300,000 since 2013.
Recreational fishing has, in simple terms, a harvest component, a recreational component and a wilderness component.
Queensland’s fisheries resources are shared among recreational fishers, commercial fishers, charter operators and people practicing traditional Indigenous fishing.
A statewide recreational fishing survey is part of Fisheries Queensland’s monitoring program and helps us understand the catch and effort and participation rate of recreational fishers. This is an important part in sustainably managing Queensland fisheries.
Almost 943,000 Queenslanders went recreational fishing in 2019, an increase of more than 300,000 since 2013.
About 19% of Queenslanders aged over 5 ‘go fishing’ recreationally. Queensland recreational fishers are becoming younger.
While most Queensland regions have seen increasing participation since 2013, popularity becomes stronger the further north you go.
It is estimated from previous versions of AgTrends, that a total catch of 13,450 tonnes is caught by recreational fishers each year (not including catch and release). A further 9,500 tonnes is caught and released each year.
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