Until recently, exploitation of North West Shelf multi-species fish stocks was mainly by the Taiwanese pair-trawl fishery, though other foreign vessels had also fished there. Australian finfish fishing in the region was conducted by a small number of line-fishing boats, working close to the mainland and islands. The Australian market was for larger, higher-valued fish than the broad range of species acceptable to the Taiwanese. These larger species have been those most vulnerable to over-depletion by the foreign trawlers.

Serious trap fishing in these waters began in 1984. There had been trapping for pink snapper in the Shark Bay region since 1959 and it was a group of snapper fishermen who introduced traps to the NW Shelf following the 1984 snapper season. The local line-fishermen opposed the trapping mainly on the grounds that it was more efficient than line-fishing and would lead to over-exploitation of the stocks. There was also concern that traps might be less selective than lines and would catch juveniles of the largest, most valuable species. Some of the line-fishermen adopted the trapping method later that year but others, especially those involved in charter fishing and tourism, maintain their opposition.