Shark Bay, more than 800 kilometres north of Perth, is renowned for its recreational fishing, especially for pink snapper.
There is limited mixing between the pink snapper stocks in Shark Bay’s three inner gulfs and the wider-ranging oceanic population. The Shark Bay inner gulf pink snapper stocks are small compared with the oceanic stock and stocks elsewhere in Australia and in New Zealand. Being small and reproductively isolated makes these inner gulf stocks particularly vulnerable to overfishing.
For this reason, special fishing rules apply.
The following rules apply when fishing for, or landing pink snapper in the Shark Bay inner gulfs.
Daily bag limit
2 per fisher, per day
Size limit
Minimum size 500 mm
The bag and size limits above also apply when the pink snapper have been caught in oceanic waters and landed anywhere in the Shark Bay inner gulfs.
Freycinet Estuary Management Zone
In the Freycinet Estuary Management Zone, any person can only have in their possession a maximum of 5 kg of fillets (this applies to all species, not just pink snapper) or one day’s bag limit of whole fish or fish trunks.
Click on the map above for a printable version.
Closed seasons
Denham Sound: No seasonal fishing closures.
Eastern Gulf: Closed 1 May – 31 July (inclusive).
Freycinet Estuary: Closed 15 August – 30 September (inclusive).
Pink snapper tag lottery
Following the community backed recovery of pink snapper stocks in Shark Bay inner gulfs, the Freycinet Estuary tag lottery was replaced with new recreational fishing rules in 2016.
Landing filleted or processed fish
There is no longer a requirement to land pink snapper in whole form in the Shark Bay inner gulfs, but Statewide filleting rules apply. See the Recreational fishing guide for more details.
The Shark Bay inner gulfs