It has been a rough run for the remote town of Wyndham in Western Australia's far north.

In the past year iron ore, crude oil and nickel have all stopped being shipped through the port due to the global commodities slump.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 5 minutes 54 seconds 5 m The poor wet season is delaying the start of the commercial barramundi season in the remote East Kimberley town of Wyndham, Western Australia. ( Tom Edwards ) Download 2.7 MB

Now the weather is taking its toll, with a poor wet season delaying the start of Wyndham's commercial barramundi fishing season.

Local fisherman Mark Douglas said he was usually catching barramundi and salmon off the north Kimberley coast by the start of February.

But this year below average rainfall and high temperatures will keep his boat anchored in the Cambridge Gulf until the end of March.

"We've been waiting for some decent rain to flush the rivers out and get some prawns and bait fish happening, but it's all fairly quiet," he said.

"It's a bit early to tell, but it's not looking like a very productive year, depending on how much more rain we can squeeze out of this so-called wet season."

Warm water makes fish hard to find

Mr Douglas said he recently recorded water temperatures in coastal creeks of 38C, which kept fish locked down in cooler waters and made them harder to find.

"End of March, early April, we've got to go and get some fish," he said.

"We've got restaurants ringing up putting orders in for the tourist season, so hopefully we can get out there and get amongst it."

As a Wyndham resident for nearly 17 years, Mr Douglas said the past year in the town was the worst he had seen it.

"We're down to one supermarket and one service station now," he said.

"A lot of people, even long term people who were here before the so-called mining boom, they've actually moved on to find a better job.

"I don't know how much further Wyndham can go backwards, but at this stage it's very quiet for sure. Not a lot of prospects at all."

Mr Douglas said Wyndham's future hinged on growth in cattle exports and developments like Ord Stage 2 and Project Sea Dragon's planned prawn farm near the WA–NT border.

"Things keep moving [but] sometimes they hit the brakes for a while," he said.

"The planet's not going to stop growing at this stage, so I think there's always optimism for the future."