Marine Fisheries

NSW's fisheries had an estimated value of approximately $222 million in 2024-25. Wild-caught fishery production accounts for around 50% of NSW's total fisheries. Recreational fishing also contributes substantially to the NSW economy, with an estimated $3.4 billion added through travel expenditure for recreational fishing trips, fishing tackle and boat-related items.

Climate Vulnerability Assessments

For marine fisheries, the selected species were:

Visit each page for more information about the species and to view its factsheet and results report.

Results

The Climate Vulnerability Assessment assessed the historical and future climate suitability for each commodity across NSW. These assessments considered changes in suitability between the historical (1993-2012) and future projection (2040-2059) periods, reported separately for two emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5).

Maps of historical and future climate suitability for marine fisheries were produced. These help us identify where along the NSW coast marine fisheries are likely to thrive or else be limited. The maps are provided in the results reports for each commodity, and these reports also provide an interpretation of the drivers behind changes in climate suitability.

Care should be taken when interpreting these results. The Climate Vulnerability Assessment is intended to highlight potential changes in future climate suitability at industry and regional levels. It is not designed to be interpreted at the scale of individual holdings.

For more information on assumptions and exclusions for individual models, please refer to the results reports. For a detailed description of the methodology, modelling approach and data used in the Climate Vulnerability Assessment, please refer to the methodology summary page.

Data release

The data underpinning each assessment is available online through the NSW Sharing and Enabling Environmental Data (SEED) portal, via the Climate Vulnerability Assessment page.