Northern Planning Area
Fact Sheet [PDF]
Description
Indigenous and recreational fishing activities are prominent across the Area, while employment within the fish industry comprises largely commercial fishing activities, with only a small number engaged in wholesaling and processing activities. Much of the employment within the commercial fishing sector occurs around Karumba, Cooktown and on Thursday Island. A distinctive characteristic of the fish industry in the Area is the high level of fishing activity which is undertaken by those with home ports outside the Region, reflecting an apparent lower regional level of fishing-related employment.
Major commercial fisheries in the Area include: the Northern Prawn and Torres Strait prawn trawl fisheries; mud crab trap fisheries; barramundi net fisheries; mackerel line fisheries; and a variety of tropical finfish fisheries utilising trap, line, net and trawl methods. All are Northern Territory and Queensland fisheries, except the Northern Prawn and Torres Strait prawn trawl fisheries which are managed by the Australian Government.
The total commercial fisheries production for the Area in 2002 was estimated at 13,200 t with a GVP of $167m, down from $187m in 2001.
Crab Fishing (J Lauritz, supplied by Ecofish)
Socio-economic characteristics
The Northern Planning Area has a unique socio-demographic composition due to half its population being of Indigenous origin, and the level of employment in the mining sector. Employment in almost all non-Indigenous parts of the Area is heavily concentrated on resource-based activities. Employment in Indigenous communities is largely based on Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) schemes. The Indigenous population has a younger median age, with higher proportions of younger persons and lower proportions of elderly persons. In contrast, the transient nature of mining employment results in a highly mobile population, an unbalanced sex composition, and high-income levels across mining-based areas. There is a strong contrast in the levels of socio-economic disadvantage across Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
Coastal towns in the Area are distributed sparsely, often separated by more than 70 kilometres. Much of the coastal strip of the Area is subject to severe flooding during the wet season, and almost uninhabited. A large part of the Northern Planning Area is Aboriginal land, including both mainland and islands. The various small island communities in the Torres Strait have strong traditional trade links to Papua New Guinea.
The Area has a population of approximately 48,900 persons, with an annual growth rate higher that the coastal Australia average. The highest population growth rates occurred between the Shire of Burke and Arnhem Land and the Indigenous area of Aurukun.
Maps and Analysis
| Social Profile of the Northern Planning Marine Area | ||
| Northern Planning Area: Employment in the consolidated fish industry, commercial fishing GVP and fishing methods | GIF | |
| Northern Planning Area: Recreational fishing catch and catch composition | GIF | |
| North Eastern Australia: Indigenous Fishing Catch and catch composition | GIF | |
| Northern Planning Area SLA and UCL | GIF | |
| Mapper: Northern Territory and Queensland line fisheries, catch of all species, 2002 | ||
| Mapper: Australian Government Northern Prawn Fishery, Torres Strait Prawn Fishery and Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery, GVP of prawns, 2002 | ||
| Mapper: Norhtern Territory and Queensland mud crab trap fisheries, GVP, 2002 |
