Fishing, Aquaculture

While oil and gas companies argue no lasting harm is done by undersea blasting, Tasmanian fisherman Danny Fox isn't so sure — and says if it's so harmless, he'd like to see an "oil executive" in a bath take a large blast of compressed air to "see what he thinks".

Australia's first prawn farm, built nearly 40 years ago, is one of three in a NSW region up for sale as the risk of another white spot disease outbreak outweighs investing in another season.

A year since the white spot virus was first detected on the north coast of New South Wales, the state’s $14 million prawn industry is at a standstill. Prawn farmers are questioning what has been learnt from an outbreak in Queensland years before, and why there’s been no compensation.

Commercial fishers operating in Australia's northern waters say illegal fishing activity is rampant, and they "don't bother" fishing in some areas due to the amount of catch being taken illegally.

Extraordinary criticism has been levelled at one of the West Australian government departments responsible for developing two marine parks off the state's coast.

The purported graves were marked with sticks, stones and a makeshift cross at a beach within the Rowley Shoals Marine Park, 300km off the West Australian coast.

The northern NSW community of Laurieton is determined to refloat and restore a piece of their maritime history, with efforts underway to salvage a 60-year-old former pride of the fleet from the Camden Haven River.

Efforts continue to try and pull an historic fishing trawler from waters at Laurieton, south of Port Macquarie, after it sank in late October.

Whatever your seafood preference, new commercial fishing regulations proposed for Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria mean your options could be limited this year.

Authorities say an abalone fishery north of Perth could be re-opened after being shut down following a marine heatwave in 2011, if a planned survey reveals stocks have recovered.

Three Indigenous-owned corporations will receive government support, as they prepare to commercialise something they've been doing for thousands of years.

The way in which aquaculture businesses can use the waters of the Lower Eyre Peninsula is changing to help them make the most of demand for products including tuna, kingfish and mussels.

When abalone diver Chris Theodore noticed sea urchins destroying his fishery he started harvesting the marine menaces as a culinary delicacy. Now a Senate inquiry wants to see the industry boom.

Salmon farming operations in Tasmania's Macquarie Harbour could be temporarily halted, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek warns, amid a push to protect the endangered Maugean skate.

Air gun testing critical to Western Australia's offshore oil, gas and energy ambitions is "dazing" the state's valuable western rock lobsters, a new study finds.

Southern rock lobster fishers have not been using the best pots, according to the results of a five-year study testing different designs, with the West Australian batten pot coming out on top.

Dredging is halted at a South Australian marina after the discovery of wakame seaweed, regarded as one of the country's worst marine pests.

Recreational fishers are celebrating the banning of netting in the bay, but a commercial operator fears it will kill his business.

Several foreign fishing vessels have been spotted illegally fishing off the Kimberley coast by a conservationist travelling northern Australia.

A world-class laboratory that will turn mother-of-pearl into a bone substitute opens in northern WA.

It could take hundreds of years — if not thousands — to reverse decline to ocean fish habitat if warming's not kept below climate targets, according to new research.

Associate Professor Litea Meo-Sewabu explains how the Fijian government recognises The Great Council of Chiefs (Bose Levu Vakaturaga) as a constitutional body within the nation of Fiji.

After 40 years of selling oysters on the New South Wales South Coast, Sally McLean says government red tape could stop customers from eating them at her farm.

Fishing icon Judey Aiken has a mouth that could make a sailor blush, but it's her warm heart and boisterous nature that have made her known across the country.

The Philippine coastguard removes a floating cordon installed by Chinese vessels blocking access to a prime fishing patch which the Philippines said was in violation of international law.