Western Australian (WA) fishing rules are already in place on Christmas Island (CI) and were not specifically designed for the unique CI region.

Following extensive community consultation and feedback on the strong interest from the Christmas Island (CI) and Cocos Keeling Islands (CKI) communities in local management and self-regulation, the Australian Government will work in collaboration with the CKI and CI communities to develop a model of fisheries management that delivers a regulatory framework fit for purpose in the IOT.

Under any potential approach, it will be critical that communities continue to practise sustainable fishing and work together with the Government to implement a model which secures the IOT fishing future.

The Australian Government will support further research of local fisheries stocks to inform management frameworks, which will include community input.

Documents

Ordinance

• Exposure Draft: Christmas Island Applied Laws Amendment (Fish Resource Management) Ordinance 2020 PDF: 421 KB 

Fact sheets

• English PDF: 3214 KB 
• Chinese PDF: 2137 KB 
• Malay PDF: 3213 KB 
• Service Delivery Arrangements - Fisheries services
  • English PDF: 238 KB 
  • Malay PDF: 519 KB 

Frequently asked questions

• English PDF: 268 KB 
• Chinese PDF: 853 KB 
• Malay PDF: 675 KB 

Research papers

• A Sustainable Future for fishing on Christmas Island (2007) PDF: 1388 KB 
• Review of Exploitation of IOT Resources (2010) PDF: 509 KB 

Public consultation

• Community Feedback - Fisheries public consultations Christmas Island PDF: 304 KB