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- About Your Licence
- Seafood Processing Facility Licences
Seafood Processing Facility Licences
What you need to know about Seafood Wholesale, Seafood Processor, and Seafood Further Processor licences.
Summary
- The law requires your business to have a licence to wholesale or process seafood to sell.
- There are three different licenses. The level of seafood processing determines which licence you need.
- You only need one of these Seafood Processing Facility licences.
What Seafood Processing Facility licence to get
Apply for the licence for the highest level of processing you want to do.
You only need to get one licence.
Get a Seafood Wholesale licence if you want to:
- store and sell seafood mostly to other businesses (wholesale)
- store and sell more than 50 tonnes of seafood to the public (retail) each year.
A Seafood Wholesale Licence is for the lowest level of seafood processing. This is storing, chilling and freezing only.
Get a Seafood Processor licence if you want to:
- fillet, shuck, head, gut, or skin, as well as chill, freeze and/or pack seafood to sell.
Get a Seafood Further Processor licence if you want to:
- can, cook, dry, smoke, cure, add processing ingredients, mince, or blend seafood to sell.
A Seafood Further Processor licence is for the highest level of seafood processing.
As an example, if you want to skin, fillet and freeze AND smoke and cure, get the Seafood Further Processor licence only. If you want to shuck, pack and chill, get the Seafood Processor Licence only.
PrimeSafe issues these licenses under the Seafood Safety Act 2003.
You do NOT need a PrimeSafe licence if you only handle the following species LIVE:
- fin fish
- abalone
- rock lobsters
- yabbies.
You cannot transport meat or seafood with a Seafood Processing Facility licence (get a Meat Transport Vehicle licence).
All seafood businesses have to comply with the requirements of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.
This includes having a food safety program. The Australian Shellfish Quality Assurance Program Operations Manual sets out the procedures and administrative practices that will allow your food safety program to meet the food safety requirements for the production, harvest and storage of bivalve shellfish e.g. oysters, scallops, mussels and pipis.
If you also process or store meat or poultry, your food safety program has to include the principles of a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.
Learn more about Food Safety programs.
When we give you a licence, you need to meet the licence conditions. Get help from us if you don’t understand your licence conditions.
There are things your business needs to do before we can give you a licence. This includes preparing your facility.
You cannot use your own home to grow, manufacture, process or store seafood that you are going to sell. Your facility must be separate but can be at the same address or a dedicated and separate section of the building.
To learn about preparing your business before you apply and how to apply, go to How to apply for a licence.
Seafood processing facilities are audited in the first week after opening and then once per year.
A seafood business that manufactures smallgoods has two audits per year.
Check the audit schedule table to see how often you need to be audited.
| Licence type | Audit schedule |
| Seafood Wholesaler | Once a year (annually) |
| Seafood Processor (not smallgoods manufacturing) | Once a year (annually) |
| Seafood Further Processor (not smallgoods manufacturing) | Once a year (annually) |
| Smallgoods Manufacturing (Seafood Processor or Further Processor licenses) | Twice a year (every 6 months) regardless of licence type |
Audits are conducted by a PrimeSafe approved auditor.
Find out about Audits.
There is an application fee when you apply for a new licence.
There is an annual fee to hold a licence that you pay each year in December.
There are other charges when you hold a licence with PrimeSafe. Your licence requires your processing facility to be audited. You will have to pay an auditor to conduct the audits.
You may have to pay a fine if you do not meet your licence conditions.
PrimeSafe follows the Department of Treasury and Finance’s guideline for setting fees and charges.
Licence application and annual fees
If your business ONLY processes (including stores) Category A species, your licence will be a Category A licence.
Category A Species are:
- fin fish
- scallops
- shell fish
- eels
- shark
- octopus
- squid.
If your business processes (including stores) ANY Category B species, your licence will be a Category B licence.
Category B species are:
- mud crabs
- bugs
- crabs
- abalone
- rock lobster
- prawns.
Category A fees
Check the tables for the application and annual fees for Category A species for all three licenses.
Seafood Wholesaler Category A licence fees
| Annual Throughput | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 200 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 201 to 400 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 401 to 1,000 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 1,001 to 2,000 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 2,000 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 400 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Seafood Processor Category A licence fees
| Amount processed each year | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 50 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 51 to 100 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 101 to 250 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 251 to 500 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 500 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 100 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Seafood Further Processor Category A licence fees
| Annual Throughput | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 50 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 51 to 100 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 101 to 250 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 251 to 500 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 500 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 100 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Category B fees
Check the tables for the application and annual fees for Category B species for all three licenses.
Seafood Wholesaler Category B licence fees
| Annual Throughput | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 75 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 76 to 150 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 151 to 350 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 351 to 700 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 700 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 150 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Seafood Processor Category B licence fees
| Amount processed each year | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 50 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 51 to 100 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 101 to 250 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 251 to 500 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 500 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 100 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Seafood Further Processor Category B licence fees
| Annual Throughput | Application Fee ($) | Annual Fee ($) |
| Up to 25 tonnes | 499 | 998 |
| 26 to 50 tonnes | 750 | 1,499 |
| 51 to 100 tonnes | 1,745 | 3,489 |
| 101 to 200 tonnes | 3,743 | 7,485 |
| Over 200 tonnes | 4,989 | 9,977 |
Facilities supervised by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pay less for a licence to process more than 50 tonnes of seafood. The most you will pay is $1,098 to apply and $2,195 each year.
Calculate the total cost to apply for a licence
To apply for one of the Seafood Processing Facility licenses you need to pay:
- the application fee (paid once only)
- the licence fee (paid when you first apply and then every year in December).
The amount you pay when you apply depends upon:
- the amount and type of seafood you want to wholesale/process.
- the time left until the licence is renewed in December (pro rata).
Use the Fee Calculator to see what you will pay today to apply for a licence.
All our fees are GST exempt so we will not give you a tax invoice when you pay.
Fee Calculator
Please enter the estimated annual throughput of your seafood business, your business type and the species processed below.
Standards and guidelines that apply
This manual covers the food standards for businesses harvesting bivalve shellfish for human consumption.
We're here to help
Send us your questions and we'll get back to you in two to seven business days.
