Fishing for marron is prohibited at all other times.

Setting marron fishing gear before 12 noon on 8 January is prohibited.

Within 50 m of the waterline of marron waters:

• You may have only legal marron fishing gear in your possession.
• Net restrictions apply; licensed freshwater anglers with a rod and line may possess only a short-handled (50 cm) trout landing net.

Marron waters include:

• Collie River (upstream of the Australind Bypass Road and downstream of the Wellington Dam wall, and upstream of the Mungalup Road Bridge);
• Deep, Gardner, Warren, Donnelly, Blackwood, Capel and Preston rivers and their tributaries;
• Moore and Hutt rivers and their tributaries; and
• Murray River (upstream from the Pinjarra weir).

The following waters are closed to marron fishing:

• Public water supply dams – any dams not listed are generally closed to fishing. For details, visit the Water Corporation’s website at www.watercorporation.com.au.
• Shannon River – for marron research purposes, the Shannon River and its tributaries are closed to all fishing.
• Margaret River – you must not fish for marron in the Margaret River and its tributaries upstream of the Ten Mile Brook junction (to protect a species known as ‘hairy marron’), or in waters within 300 m upstream and 50 m downstream of the Bussell Highway traffic bridge.

In these waters, you may use only a pole snare to take marron. All other methods are illegal. Within 50 m of the waterline you may not be in possession of any marron fishing gear except a pole snare.

Snare-only waters include:

• Margaret River (outside of closures – see 'Closed waters');
• Big Brook Dam, Drakes Brook Dam, Glen Mervyn Dam,and Logue Brook Dam;
• Harvey Dam and the Harvey River upstream of the South Western Highway including the tributaries flowing into those waters;
• Waroona Dam (Lake Navarino) and its tributaries; and
• Wellington Dam (all waters and tributaries upstream of the Wellington Dam wall, excluding the Collie River upstream of Mungalup Road Bridge).

You must have a licence to fish for marron and be able to produce it if required.

Apply for a new licence or renew an existing licence online.  

Alternatively, application forms are available from Department of Fisheries offices and online.

Size limits allow fish to reach maturity to complete their breeding cycle. Measure all your fish and return undersize or excess fish alive to the water.

Bag limits assist in sharing the resource and contribute to the sustainable management of the State’s fish stocks.

A daily bag limit is the maximum number of fish that you may take or bring onto land in any 24-hour period, from midnight to midnight (except from midday to midday for marron, prawns and when recreational netting).

For rules about fish kept and stored beyond 24 hours, see 'Possession limit' for details.

Individual species daily bag limit

This is the maximum number of an individual species that you may take within your total mixed species daily bag limit.

For demersal finfish, large pelagic finfish and nearshore/esturarine finfish, an individual daily bag limit for a group of species applies to each of the individual species in that group. 

For example, emperors (except blue-lined emperor) have an individual daily bag limit of three in all bioregions except the West Coast. They are also within a mixed species daily bag limit of five (across all demersal scalefish for these bioregions).

• 3 fish = 3 red-throat emperor 
  OR
• 3 fish = 1 coral trout (species has an individual species bag limit of 1) and 2 red-throat emperor.

Mixed species daily bag limit

To protect fish and their habitats in key environments, some activities are banned. In particular you are not allowed to:

• use fish traps or ‘pots’ of any kind (except lobster pots and octopus trigger traps – see the website for further information);
• use dredges;
• obstruct any bay, inlet, river, creek or any tidal or inland waters so that fish are enclosed, left stranded, destroyed or wasted;
• be in possession of explosives or noxious substances (for example, fish poisons);
• ‘jag’ (deliberately foul-hook) fish;
• use commercial fishing gear of any kind;
• use set-lines; or
• attach fish hooks to lobster pots, anchors and anchor lines or moorings.

Note: Fishing tackle stores may carry gear that does not meet WA legal requirements. In particular, the use of crab traps, ‘opera house’ traps and bait jigs with more than three hooks are illegal in WA waters. Please check before you make a purchase.

The FishWatch phone line provides a quick and easy way to report sightings or evidence of:

• illegal fishing;
• aquatic pests; and
• aquatic diseases (including fish kills).

You can also report illegal or suspicious fishing activities via our online form. 

Illegal fishing could include someone netting in the river, exceeding their bag or possession limits, taking undersize fish, fishing in a closed area, having more fishing gear in the water than they should or illegally selling recreationally caught fish.

Before you call or report online, note:

• How many people you saw.
• Who they were. Did you hear/know any of their names?
• What they were doing.
• Where it happened; the nearest known landmark or intersection of the closest road.
• What type of equipment, cars or boats, registration numbers and descriptions.
• When it happened: time and date. Is it something that is happening right now, while you are making a report, or was it something you observed previously?

Your reports are treated in strict confidence. We recommend you do not approach anyone you think is involved in illegal activity relating to fish or fishing.

If you don’t wish to contact us through FishWatch you can pass information to your local Fisheries office or to Fisheries Officers.

Call FishWatch now - 1800 815 507.

Interfering with another person's fishing gear or catch, selling recreationally caught fish and other similar offences can result in penalties of up to $400,000, imprisonment for four years and loss of boats, vehicles and equipment.

Offenders may also lose the privilege of engaging in a licensed fishing activity.

You may use only one of the following methods at one time. All other fishing gear, including any type of trap, is illegal.

Drop nets

• Six per licensed fisher.
• Maximum net diameter of 650 mm (see (A) below).
• Nets must have marron mesh bases (mesh dimension must be 32 mm by 80 mm or greater).

Scoop net

• One per licensed fisher. 
• Wire basket crab scoop must have a maximum six vertical wires and maximum 75 individual rectangles.
• Maximum length of handle is 1,400 mm (see (B) below).
• Maximum diameter of scoop is 375 mm (see (C) below).
• Maximum depth of scoop is 210 mm (see (D) below).
• Fine mesh nets are illegal.

Snare

• One bushman’s pole snare per licensed fisher.
• Snares must be self-tightening only – there must be nothing attached to the pole to enable a person to open or close the noose.

In WA, licences are required for:

• use of a powered boat to fish or to transport your catch or fishing gear to or from a land- based fishing location (Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence);
• rock lobster;
• abalone;
• marron;
• South-west (south of 29°S) freshwater angling; and
• net fishing (set, haul and throw nets).

The licence covers a 12-month period from the date of issue.

With the exception of the above, you do not require a licence to fish from the shore.

You must produce your licence when requested by a Fisheries and Marine Officer. 

How to get a licence

Apply for a new licence or renew an existing licence online. Alternatively, application forms are available from Department of Fisheries offices and online.

Fishing licences issues in other states are not valid in Western Australia.

Measure from the tip of the horn on the marron’s forehead (A) to the back edge of the carapace (B).

If the gauge fits over the back of the carapace, and is even slightly loose, the marron is too small and must be returned to the water.

Measure accurately using an approved gauge, available from tackle shops. Measuring with anything else, such as a drink can or ruler, can lead to mistakes.

You must measure each marron caught immediately, returning all undersize and spawning marron to the water carefully. 

There is a possession limit of 16 marron per licensed fisher. This means you may only accumulate your daily bag limit up to a possession limit of 16. This limit applies everywhere except in your permanent place of residence.

In trophy waters (see 'Trophy waters – marron'), there is a combined daily bag and possession limit of 5 marron per licensed fisher.

The marron fishery is unique because it is purely for recreational fishers. Rules are in place to protect vulnerable breeding populations and marron stocks so we’ll have marron in the future.

You must measure each marron as soon as you catch it, then immediately and carefully return to the water:

• undersize marron; and
• female marron carrying eggs or young.

Also please remember to dispose of all rubbish and old bait properly – don’t leave any waste on the bank of a river or dam. In addition, keep in mind that you share the marron fishery. Nobody owns the shoreline, so don’t stake out big ‘territories’.

It is illegal to use diving gear to catch marron. It is also illegal to use boats (including canoes, etc.) to catch and/or transport marron unless the marron have been caught from the shore using a marron pole snare.

To fish in areas not accessible by land, fishers may transport marron scoop nets or drop nets by boat only on the Donnelly River downstream of the boat landing. This privilege will be revoked if abused. Fishing from a boat is still illegal.

Marron caught during open season must be taken to your residence by midnight on the last day of the season.

During the closed season, it is illegal to transport marron grown on private property (because they are hard to distinguish from marron taken illegally). If you have bought marron from a licensed facility you must keep your receipt as proof of purchase.

Trophy waters are within 500 m of the high water mark of Harvey Dam, Waroona Dam and the Hutt River. These waters give fishers a chance to catch larger, trophy-sized marron.