WA's vast coastline supports the iconic Western Rock Lobster — the world's first MSC-certified fishery (2000) — plus prawn, scallop, abalone, and the cultured pearl industry off Broome.
WA's vast coastline supports the iconic Western Rock Lobster — the world's first MSC-certified fishery (2000) — plus prawn, scallop, abalone, and the cultured pearl industry off Broome.
Volume: 32,000 t (2023)
~$700M (2023)
WA Western Rock Lobster — first MSC-certified fishery globally (2000).
King PrawnsExmouth and Shark Bay prawn fleets.
Greenlip AbaloneCone Bay sea-cage barramundi (Kimberley).
Blue Swimmer CrabBroome — South Sea Pearls (separate, not measured by tonnage).
Vessels: 580
Workers (approx): 3,100
Home ports: FremantleGeraldtonExmouthCarnarvonBroome
Western Australia's fisheries are anchored by the iconic Western Rock Lobster — the first MSC-certified fishery in the world (2000) — and the Broome pearling industry, which has Indo-Malay, Japanese, and Aboriginal heritage stretching back to the 1880s. The Kimberley barramundi industry includes some of Australia's largest sea-cage operations. Geraldton remains a working lobster port with strong Italian and Greek migrant heritage.
10 fishing regions have their own profile inside Western Australia.
A UNESCO World Heritage Area producing premium tiger and king prawns, scallops, and supporting one of Australia's most rigorously managed offshore fisheries.
Adjacent to Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth Gulf supports a tightly-managed tiger prawn fishery and a famous recreational game-fishing scene.
Carnarvon is a quiet WA fishing town with a substantial prawn-trawl fleet and aquaculture interests in the Gascoyne region.
Geraldton is the centre of the Western Rock Lobster industry — the world's first MSC-certified fishery — with the bulk of the catch processed locally and exported live.
An offshore archipelago west of Geraldton — historically and economically central to the Western Rock Lobster fishery, with a unique island-based fishing community.
On WA's south coast, Albany supports an abalone fleet, southern rock lobster pots, and a developing marron and ocean trout farming sector.
Esperance's pristine waters support an abalone fleet, southern rock lobster pots, and a small but growing aquaculture industry.
Fremantle and Cockburn Sound are Perth's seafood landing and processing hub — handling lobster, crab, finfish, and a growing aquaculture sector.
Broome on WA's Kimberley coast is the heart of Australia's South Sea Pearl industry — a heritage rich in Indigenous, Asian, and European involvement going back to the 1880s.
The vast, remote Kimberley coast supports pearling, barramundi recreational tourism, and growing Indigenous-led commercial fishing operations.