Crab Fishing

Giant Crabs

Giant crabs are a deep water species of crab, which are occasionally caught by recreational fishers. There are seasons, size and possession limits and gear, bait and area restrictions for catching giant crab.

• A recreational rock lobster pot licence is required to fish for giant crabs.
• You can only fish for giant crab during the recreational rock lobster season. For female giant crabs, the season is from the first Saturday in November to 30 April the following year. For male giant crabs, the season is from the first Saturday in November to 31 August the following year.
• Female giant crabs that are in berry (with eggs) cannot be kept at any time.
• A possession limit of 1 giant crab applies.
• Only crabs with a carapace length between 150mm and 215mm can be kept.

• no bag, possession or size limits apply, but you should only take what you need for a feed; and
• one bait trap can be used to catch crabs but it must be within the specified dimensions. The use of bait traps is prohibited in some waters, check the net and line area restrictions.

Department switchboard:  1300 368 550 (local call cost within Australia)

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