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Fresh wild caught premium fish. 
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Chris Bolton Fishing
Whether you are a chef at a 5-star restaurant looking to make every meal special, or a fisherman wanting to have the best chance of hooking that special fish, you won’t be disappointed with the quality of our product.
We bring to you some of the finest quality wild caught fish to ever leave the ocean.
Every single fish we catch is handled with the care and respect it deserves.
Every fish we sell is sashimi grade, the best of the best.
We are a small, family owned and operated fishing business based at Kurrimine Beach, Nth Queensland. I am the skipper and fisherman on every single fishing trip. With help from my partner Kim, my father Wayne at times, and 1 or 2 deckhands, I am hands on with every part of our business. From catching the fish, cleaning boats, taking orders, packing fish, or just having a good old yarn with customers, I am there. I believe this is the only way to ensure everything is up to the standard our customers expect.
Our line-caught reef fish are killed instantly and humanely using the ike-jime method. Fish are bled well and immediately placed into a salt ice brine to bring their temperature down to 2oC. Once this is achieved, every fish is gently hand-packed, one by one into our custom-made fibreglass eskies and covered with flake ice.
Having small, fast boats means we don’t catch large quantities. It means our fishing time is very short – very rarely more than 24 hours fishing before returning to port, with some trips as short as 6 hours.
When returning to port, we don’t unload at the wharf. Our boats are winched onto a trailer, towed by an ex-sugar cane haul-out tractor, and the catch is driven right to the door of our coldroom and packing facility, which was designed and made by myself to suit the way we operate. Our catch is unloaded from the boat and immediately packed for transport, with minimal handling and in the shortest possible timeframe.
Air freight is our preferred method of transport, unless we are supplying to the local area of course.
Premium Quality
We can have any and every fish we catch delivered to anyone, anywhere in Australia within hours of being caught…
All at premium quality.
Wild Caught Fish
Wild caught fish is one of the healthiest foods on the planet.
These fish aren’t fed processed pellets, or had any hormones or antibiotics in their system.
They have lived a life most of us dream of — a life in the clean waters of the Coral Sea, amongst the beautiful Great Barrier Reef.
Every day they are eating delicacies such as squid, sea urchins, prawns, sardines, fusiliers, garfish, crabs and more. Is it any wonder they taste so good?! 100% pure organic, natural food. The way nature intended.
If healthy eating, premium quality, and sustainability are your concerns, be concerned no longer.
Supplying Australia with healthy, sustainably and responsibly caught, premium quality fish is our job. And we take our job very seriously.
Sustainability
Proud to be Reef Guardian Fishers
As a commercial fishing business, we rely on a healthy, sustainable environment.
We believe if we do the best we can by the environment, the environment we rely on will do the best for us as well.
The Great Barrier Reef is more than just a place we rely on for our business, its our life, its our families life, and we want it to stay that way for generations to come.
The Latest from Facebook
For those interested, and anyone following this page should be interested, here's the communique from the Reef line fishery working group meeting 22-23rd April, held in Cairns.
A few things I want to say about the outcomes of this meeting, and a few of my concerns.
Firstly, you'll notice the commercial sectors coral trout quota looks like being cut by 200tons for the 21-22 season, while nothing changes for the recreational sector.
When this harvest strategy and decision rules were agreed to by the working group 3, maybe 4 years ago, we were using a completely different stock assessment model, and we were told trout stocks were at 68% of unfished levels, and confidence was high in those estimates. At 68%, it was highly unlikely a 200t reduction would be needed, unless something drastic happened. It was also agreed that if the commercial sector lost a certain % of their quota for sustainability reasons, the recreational sector would also have a reduction in bag limits. The rec reps also agreed to this. Fair enough I say. π€·ββοΈ
But now we we're told stock estimates are drastically different. New stock assesment models were used, and stocks aren't as high as we thought, but the same rules apply. Though it seems they only apply to the commercial sector. 200t hit to commercial quota, no change to recreational......The goal posts were moved without notice, but only on one end of the field.
Commercial catches in 2020 and 2021 so far have been well below allowable catches (quota not caught) because of covid related issues. Markets in other words.
Recreational catches, well no one really knows what they are, but I'm sure every single one of us knows the recreational catch has increased dramatically since covid. I've had a lot of recreational fishermen themselves tell me they are concerned about the huge increase in recreational fishing.
So commercial catch has reduced, recreational catch seemingly increased, but once again the commercial sector takes the pineapples. The smell of political management rather than sustainable management is strong on this issue......
The 2nd issue I have serious concerns with is the economic data.
We were told 19% participation is enough to get very accurate economic data.......
This data only takes into account wharf wholesale prices. No wholesalers, retailers, fish and chip shops, cafes, restaurants etc were asked to contribute.
Just think about that. How is it possible to get accurate economic data of a fishery from less than one fifth participation? And with no supply chain involvement? Accurate? Definitely not in my opinion......
I know from my own fish, wharf prices are roughly one fifth, probably less a lot of the time than the true, final value of that fish. (By the time its served in a restaurant for example)
The 2 issues above were my main concerns, but a few other points to note are-
We were promised a reduction in red tape. Well we're constantly getting more, not less. New reporting requirements etc.
The lack of support from government.
By all accounts the Qld commercial line fishery is one of the lowest impact, highly monitored, highly regulated, sustainable fisheries in the world. No doubt about that. Even radical green groups will admit to that. Yet the qld government very rarely shows any real public support.
If you want sustainable fisheries worldwide, or at least Australia wide, wouldn't it be a good idea to do everything you can to promote those fisheries leading the way? In my book it would. And if Fisheries Queensland are so sure they're doing an outstanding job of managing the reef line fishery, why are they not backing themselves by standing in support of that fishery?
Anyway, I'll always do whatever I can to help and promote sustainable fishing across all sectors. I'm quite happy to work with Qld Fisheries, GBRMPA, even AMCS, whoever need be. I've got no problem with quota cuts or added regulation if it improves sustainability, a 500t reduction wouldn't bother me if I knew it was essential to sustainability. But politics in fisheries management I have absolutely no time for. I'll always speak my mind, and I'll always speak up for doing what I believe is right for the entire fishery and the country in general, and I'm 100% against politics in fisheries management.
One more thing, there's been a bit of a call for a closed FB group for commercial reef line fishermen to discuss WG issues etc. I've talked to the other commercial members about it and at this stage none of us are willing to do that at the moment. Besides the complications involved in running a group like that, we already donate a lot of our own time to working groups, more than most people realise. I estimate it's around 14 days per year, unpaid. That's a big sacrifice already. We are all small operators trying to run businesses. Time is money.
I suggest if anyone has any issues they want raised, or if they want more information than WG communiques and meeting minutes which are publicly available, all you have to do is get in touch with one of us, or Fisheries Queensland directly.
Rec fishermen same thing, get in touch with one of the rec reps or Fisheries Queensland.
I'm happy to answer any questions from any sector.
Just remember, being involved in working groups is a big sacrifice. Myself, it's costing me more than it's worth to my own business, and I'm guessing it's the same for most WG members. We're doing it to try to achieve sustainablilty and fair outcomes for ALL. Everyone has a right to an opinion, just like I have here, but I won't cop abuse from anyone for speaking my mind and doing the best I can.
Working group members CANNOT change or make rules. We can only give advice to fisheries managers. Remember that!
Thanks for update and appreciate all you guys and now girls on the working group. ..blind Freddy can see the increase in rec fleet and added tech advancement on fishing practices ..until they can accurately moniter and record rec catches it makes a mockery of our compliance and world standard of our quota system ...thanks Chris for your time on the working group
A least you didn’t miss out on the weather this meeting. Fair comment on quota vs bag limit. That said I would expect a large reduction in rec effort this year, for the same reason there was an increase last year.
Reducing by 200t will drive the price of quota up and ultimately help put a nail in the coffin for line fisherman that are already struggling. The catch data obviously doesn’t take into consideration the change in fishing tactics many fisherman have had to employ to chase red live trout. Green trout are much easier to target in the north by live fisherman but now they are worth dead prices alive is a killer for the industry. I’m sure boat owners and slippers are telling the boys to chase just red because getting dead prices for green is not good. Changing from sight fishing to using sounders and having to fish deeper with more interaction with sharks would be a huge factor in drop in productivity. If we have a good year and boats are catching then we will have very high quota prices like we had only a couple of years ago when quota prices went to $7-8/kg to lease. Doesn’t leave much hope for businesses to survive. It’s a crazy decision especially when we are losing several boats in the industry as we speak.
Bringing in a reasonable boat limit is something that needs to be looked at, 3 people being able to bring in 60 fish legally is ridiculous.
If they feel it needs to be reduced why dont they just buy out 200 tonnes of quota..?
Thanks for the update Chris .Very concerning the reduction in coral trout quota and no similar reduction in rec bag limits.Going to make for a harder year for us that lease quota,but if we need to increase biomass surely to hell a bag limit drop for recs and charter makes sense.Do the other non commercial fishing members of the acknowledge the massive increase in recreational effort .just asking as the ones on the ground ,fisheries.marine parks and water police that we interact with seem to realise it is a threat ,but does not make its way up to the top where decisions are made. Thanks for your effort in the working group
What a fucking joke With the technology you can buy off the shelf these days any old rec punter can go out and get there bag limit these days it’s beyond a joke Rec bags need to be dropped ASAP
Do you think charter boats limits should be reduced
4 blokes heading out in one boat recreationally can keep 28 coral trout plus all the other species. Tell me those recs aren’t selling the fish to get extra cash to help pay for fuel. F all commercial line fisherman around these days so shops will do anything to get these fish.
Proud to announce we are 2021 state winners for the Harvey Norman Delicious.aus produce awards π
For the judges this year we supplied a variety of fish, rather than just 1 species. We had blue maori cod, coral trout, stripey, moses perch, longnose emperor and spot cheek emperor. The day I caught the fish it was blowing 25kts, and taking photos was the last thing on my mind so I've just posted a few different pics here, not the actual fish we entered.
My intention is to do the same for national judging later in the year- regardless of weather we'll send a variety of different species, not just 1. What species they will be is anyones guess!
These awards aren't judged on produce alone, they are also judged on the way our businesses operate overall, so we're confident in doing well in the national awards again this year π
Heres a bit directly from Delicious.aus-
The delicious. Harvey Norman Produce Awards, now in its 16th year, celebrates and honours the best and most innovative
producers and produce in Australia. The Awards aim to encourage, showcase and reward Australian producers, build awareness
of culinary regions and recognise fresh, seasonal food that is produced sustainably with passion and integrity. Affected by severe
drought, devastating bushfires, Covid-19 challenges and now the floods in New South Wales, it has never been more important
to support our farmers and producers.
Beautiful, just like brand new. I heard you on the podcast last week and it was a great interview.
Fantastic, best fish and fishing practices in Queensland, well deserved πππ best wishes for the national’s.
This is huge! Congratulations and well deserved Chris and Kim π
Well deserved mate, you are one of the only people I trust with fish in my restaurant.
Congratulations and well done.
Well done all round.
Way to go guy's worked hard for it
Congratulations well deserved
Awesome mate ya hard work paying off
Fantastic news, congratulations Chris and team π
Well done Chris and family
Congrats
Congrats to you and the team
Great effort Christopher, Kim and Evie. xx
Second to none as I’ve come to expect my friend π well done
Well done
that’s awesome
Congratulations !
Well done Chris!!
Sensational Chris, well done team Bolton
Well done mate.
Congratulations guys
Congratulations Chris and Kim ππ
Congratulations Chris and Kim
Well deserved! Congrats
Chris Bolton Fishing in the media!
