5 Board trawlers currently operate out of the port. The method of fishing is different to Danish Seining, however basically the same type of fish are caught, the one main exception being school whiting which is almost exclusively caught by Danish Seiners.

Board trawlers also tend to concentrate their fishing operations in deep waters and accordingly catch more morwong, ling, blue grenadier and other deep sea species than do Danish Seiners. The net is towed by 2 wire ropes and, fixed between these ropes and the net, are paravanes (commonly known as boards or doors). Unlike the Danish Seine net which closes and stops fishing after about 2 minutes of towing, the board trawl net remains open and may be towed for any length of time, although it is rare for tows to exceed 4 hours.

Board boats can stay out at sea for 5 – 7 days, whilst Danish Seiners, commonly called ‘day trawlers’, usually fish for a maximum of 3 days.

Five currently fish for shark and trevally using mesh nets made from monofilament nylon. Fish are caught after swimming head first into the net and the nylon catches them behind their gills. They cannot go forward due to the mesh being too small, nor backwards due to the restriction of the net behind their gills. Boats are usually out at sea from 3 – 5 days. The principle types of shark caught are gummy and sword and a high percentage of the trevally landed is by this method.

Inland lake fishing (which has been a limited licence fishery for some time) is carried out extensively in the Gippsland Lakes, mainly by small owner/operated boats. These boats use mesh nets to catch bream, mullet, skipjack, flathead, luderick and a variety of other species.

Caught in the summer months. Large cane pots are baited and lowered to the bottom in rocky areas. The crayfish crawl down the funnel in the top of the pots after the boat and are unable to escape. Crays which are caught are kept alive on board the vessel in tanks until unloading. Depending on the catch rate and weather, these boats may remain at sea anything from 2 to 14 days.

There are approximately 15 to 20 local scallop boats operating out of Lakes Entrance, but in the season, up to 80 boats arrive from other ports to take part in the harvest. Scallops are caught by means of a metal dredge varying in width from 2 to 4 metres long. The tows normally extend to 20 minutes duration and then the dredge is brought on board the boat into a specially designed tipper from which the scallops spill onto a sorting tray. They are then checked for size for eventual consignment to processing factories.

This type of fishing is used to catch salmon, anchovies and pilchards and, as the name implies, the net is like an old fashioned purse with draw-strings. There is currently only one purse seiner operating out of Lakes Entrance.