Couta Boat Association of Victoria

The Couta Boat Association is the Class Association for the traditional wooden fishing boat, the couta boat.

The couta boat is uniquely Australian. It was developed because of the need to fish the open waters of Bass Strait. The name derives from the staple fish of the early Victorian fish market, the barracouta.

The Couta Boat Association seeks to maintain, preserve and protect the couta boat heritage and to encourage and provide guidance and advice on the building, restoration and preservation of Queenscliff-type couta boats by setting standards and regulations for the design and building of couta boats, and by maintaining a master register of couta boats.

The Couta Boat Class Rules attempt to provide a level playing field between restored genuine old working boats and newly built boats. The couta boat is a non-developmental class and changes to the original design are restricted.

There are couta boat fleets all around Port Phillip and along the Victorian coast, and some have found their way to NSW, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania. The Couta Boat Association has over 140 couta boats on its Race Register and there are a good number of non-racing boats on the Supplementary Register.

This represents the largest active one-class heritage fleet in the world.