Minimum Size Limits and Catch Limits apply to commercially caught native Periwinkles and Shortspined Sea Urchin. When the catch limit for a species and fishery part/area is reached it is seasonally closed for the remainder of the licensing year (1 Sep to 31 Aug).
Current closures and limits are displayed below, together with catch updates. Within-season catch data cannot be disclosed (ND) until that area has been fished by five or more divers. Only data entered in the NRE Tas Fisheries FILMS database is included.
The data below was last updated on: 1 September 2023
Periwinkles (Lunella undulata) - 45mm minimum size
Total Catch Limit for 2023/24 season - 54 tonnes
| Fishery Part | Catch Limit (t)
| Total Caught (t) | Total Left (t)
| Status |
| Northern | 16.2 | -
| 16.2
| Open |
| North-Eastern | 11
| -
| 11
| Open |
| Central-Eastern | 7.2
| -
| 7.2
| Open
|
| South-Eastern | 6 | -
| 6
| Open
|
| Western | 13.6 | -
| 13.6
| Open |
Catch Cap Areas
Fishery Part
|
Sub-blocks |
Area Name |
Cap (t) |
Caught (t) |
Status |
NE
| 31A
| Eddystone
| 5
| -
| Open
|
W
|
12C, 12D, 13A & 13B
|
Southwest
|
5
| -
|
Open
|
Shortspined Sea Urchin (Heliocidaris erythrogramma) - 80mm minimum size
Total Catch Limit for 2023/24 season - 175 tonnes
Fishery Part
| Catch Limit (t)
| Total Caught (t)
| Total Left (t)
| Status |
| Northern | 39 | -
| 39
| Open |
| North-Eastern | 37 | -
| 37
| Open |
| Central-Eastern | 45 | -
| 45
| Open
|
| South-Eastern | 44 | -
| 44
| Open |
| Western | 10 | -
| 10
| Open
|
Catch Cap Areas
|
Fishery Part |
Sub-blocks |
Area Name |
Cap (t) |
Caught (t) |
Status |
NE
| 30D | Georges Bay | 7
| -
| CLOSED from 1 Sep 2023 to 12:01am 2 Oct 2023
|
| NE | 29D, 30A & 30B | St Helens | 13 | -
| CLOSED from 12:01am 19 Sep 2023 to 31 Aug 2024
|
| CE | 24A, 24B & 24C | Mercury Passage | 15
| -
| Open
|
| CE | 26B, 26C & 26D | Coles Bay | 13.5
| -
| Open |
| SE | 23B | Dunalley | 10 | -
| Open
|
| SE | 18 | Derwent River | 6
| -
| Open
|
| SE | 19B | Dodges, Sloping Island | 15 | -
| Open
|
Longspined Sea Urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) - no size limit
Catch tally and annual comparisons (tonnes; no catch limit)
| Current Catch (t) | 22/23 |
21/22 |
20/21 |
19/20 |
18/19 |
17/18 |
16/17 |
15/16 |
No Data
| 544 | 494
| 497 | 360.5 | 559.7 | 188.5 | 41.5 | 40.5
|
Biosecurity closures: biotoxins and disease
Market Access Requirements
The following are required to maintain export market access and are recommended to protect domestic markets.
- Batch-test any fish taken from sub-blocks that are closed to commercial abalone fishing due to elevated Paralytic Shellfish Toxin (PST) levels. Currently: 24A, 24B, 24C, 25, 26A, 26B, 26C, and 30A.
In the absence of abalone data, batch-test any fish taken from areas where monitoring programs indicate that the PST risk is significantly elevated.
Biotoxin Management Framework
The Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), and Natural Resources Environment Tasmania (NRE Tas) through Biosecurity Tasmania (BT), the ShellMAP program, and Wild Fisheries Management Branch have the authority to close fishing areas in accordance with elevated biotoxin levels and disease outbreaks.
The PST risk profile for Tasmanian urchins and periwinkles are still being researched (as at 2023). Once determined, the profiles will be used to develop a Biotoxin Risk Management Plan specific to the Tasmanian Commercial Dive Fishery.
In the interim, a precautionary approach linked to abalone PST closures and general sampling must be taken to meet DAFF export requirements and protect consumers.
To maintain access to export markets, and in the absence of urchin/periwinkle PST risk profiles, DAFF applies the Tasmanian Abalone Fishery Biotoxin Management Plan to urchins and periwinkles. This means that any sub-block closed to commercial abalone fishing due to elevated PST levels requires urchins and periwinkles taken from those areas to be batch-tested for PSTs prior to export.
When a monitoring program detects elevated PSTs in commercial abalone fishing areas, abalone sampling is triggered, followed by closures if the PST thresholds are reached (see flow diagram).
To protect consumers in the domestic market, batch-testing is recommended for urchins and periwinkles taken in areas closed to commercial abalone fishing due to PSTs, and in other areas where monitoring programs indicate that PST risk is significantly elevated.
ShellMAP publish current closures for shellfish
harvest areas, and the latest results for all monitoring programs are available in the
Biotoxin News. Fishing Tasmania also publish biotoxin
events and
alerts affecting fishers.
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