A national project funded by the Commonwealth Government's Recreational Fishing Industry Development Strategy (RFIDS) was undertaken to provide an update on the national picture of recreational fishing in Australia since the last national survey in 2000/01. The project was able to provide an improved understanding of the available datasets, and data deficiencies, relating to recreational fishing in Australia through the successful collaboration of researchers and fishery managers from state, territory and Commonwealth fisheries agencies and recreational fishing groups. The project identified and prioritized recreationally-important species at the national level. A quantitative assessment using statistical modeling demonstrated the available datasets are too fragmentary in space and time to produce reliable national estimates, indicating that a dedicated national survey or better coordination of jurisdictional surveys is required. Revised jurisdictional estimates of the participation, total catch and effort, and catch of key recreationally-important species provided an up-to-date picture of recreational fisheries nationally, indicating that participation and catch of key species had generally decreased since 2001. A framework and web-based prototype of a national recreational fishing data portal was completed to improve access of updated information for recreational fisheries stakeholders, which may be used in management of specific fish stocks, marine bioregional planning, resource allocation for shared stocks, identification of regionally important areas and economies, and business and infrastructure planning through identification of growth trends.