The following legal limits apply to fish taken in Queensland waters. A take and possession limit is the total number of fish a person may take or possess at any one time.
Freshwater species
Species
Legal size (cm) Take and possession limit
Species
Australian bass*
30 min
2
Eels
East coast
58 min 120 max
5 (1 during closed season for some dams)
Gulf of Carpentaria
60 min 120 max
5
Lungfish
No limit
100 (females carrying eggs or young must be returned to the water within their natural range)
Mangrove jack
Combined limit of 5 in total for fish in the genera Neosilurus,
Tandanus and Neosiluroides
(e.g. black, Cooper Creek, eel-tailed, false spine, shortfinned catfish and Hyrtl’s tandan) Molluscs any— excluding oysters
Barramundi *
Blueclaw crayfish (yabby)
Catfish eel-tailed
(Tandanus tandanus)
Cherabins
35 min
No limit
Combined limit of 10 for both species Macrobrachium lar and M. rosenbergii
Cod
Bloomfield River cod
No take
Legal size (cm) Take and possession limit
Long-finned
30 min
Short-finned
30 min
South Pacific
30 min
No take
East coast
35 min
No limit
Gulf of Carpentaria
35 min
5
No limit
50
Golden perch
(yellowbelly)
30 min
10
Jungle perch
35 max
Combined limit of 1 for both species (i.e. only one jungle perch may be taken)
Northern jungle perch
(spotted flagtail)
35 max
As above
Silver
30 min
Combined limit of 5 for silver perch, Welch’s grunter and
Barcoo grunter. Silver perch in Paroo and Warrego River basins are catch and release only Barcoo grunter
30 min
As above
Welch’s grunter
30 min
As above
Sooty grunter
28 min
Combined limit of 10 for sooty grunter and khaki bream
Khaki bream
No limit
Combined limit of 10 for sooty grunter and khaki bream
Perch and grunter
Mary River cod
Upstream of the walls
50 min of Cressbrook, Hinze,
Maroon, Moogerah
North Pine, Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams and
Lakes Dyer (Bill Gunn
Dam and Clarendon)
Elsewhere in
Queensland
Murray cod* (Queensland part of Murray-Darling
Drainage Division)
1
No take
60 min 110 max
2
Combined limit of 10 in total of all species
*A closed season applies to these species. Please see the guide for more information.
June, 2006.
Freshwater species
Species
Legal size (cm) Take and possession limit
Species
Rainbow fish
Melanotaenia sp.
No limit
River blackfish
Combined limit of 50 (banded, black banded, chequered, crimson spotted, desert,
Duboulay’s, eastern, Lake
Eacham and McCulloch’s rainbowfish) Redclaw crayfish in its natural range
(Gulf of Carpentaria
Drainage Division and from the Jacky Jacky
River basin south to the
Normanby River basin on the east coast of
Queensland)
No limit
40 (females carrying eggs or young must be returned to the water within their natural range) Legal size (cm) Take and possession limit
No take
Saratoga
Northern
50 min
Combined limit of 1 for both species (i.e. only one saratoga may be taken)
Southern
50 min
As above
Sea mullet
30 min
No limit
Spiny crayfish
No take
The following freshwater species have a take and possession limit of 20:
Aggassiz’s perchlet
