Increasing Bream Legal Limit??

[MeePee_99]

Dont worry people do, its a shame!!!!

[Gagga08]

:rolleyes: Its a shame this discussion takes place ......... No way should anyone be able to take a 23 , 25 or even a 27cm bream ......... Honestly , what sort of feed do you get out of a 27cm fish ? ....... No wonder you have unrestricted bag limits in Qld ....... because @ 23cm you need to kill a bucket load to feed the family.

I for one don't buy into argument that they are so plentiful & vermin ....... specially when they are such a slow growing fish ........
If I had my way ....... It would be a 28cm minimum & most certainly a in possession limit of 20 fish ( & I've tempered my view on that qty).

cheers

Chris

Here! Here! Nagg

[Gagga08]

I prefer to let the large 'breeders' go back and keep only between 25cm and 30cm.

Tigermullet if everyone is taking home 30 fish a day @ 25 - 30cm there will be no more 'large breaders' in the future

[Gagga08]

It's funny you know this subject hits the board roughly once a year and almost no one makes any reference to how bream breed. Does anyone suggesting size increases know anything about them like at what size they are mature? how old they are at 30cm or 40cm? what their safe eating qualities may be like with the percentage of heavy metals they may contain at those larger sizes?

I'm also guessing that not too many of you fish land based and get to see the effort put in by some folke just hoping to catch a just legal bream. I think a lot of you people who just put hooks in fish only for fun get a bit carried away applying the "lets go hard it doesn't effect me rule"

Straddie everyone would benefit from raising the limits, not just boaters. If the limit stands at 23cm in qld...everyone will take home 23cm fish. If that limit is raised to 28cm then when a 23cm fish is caught it will be returned to the water to grow for several more years until it reaches 28cm. Instead of you catchin heaps of 22cm fish you would find yourself catching the same amount of 27cm fish

[NAGG]

Out of curiosity ....... what would a fillet off a 23cm bream weigh
Would it be 50 grams ??? ....... certainly not 100grams


Nagg

[Gagga08]

Sorry about all the posts I have added to this thread guys. It just I feel pretty strongly about this issue and find it disgraceful that qld has such lenient regulations in this matter.

I'll shut up for awhile now!

[Gold_Coast_Chaser]

It's funny you know this subject hits the board roughly once a year and almost no one makes any reference to how bream breed. Does anyone suggesting size increases know anything about them like at what size they are mature? how old they are at 30cm or 40cm? what their safe eating qualities may be like with the percentage of heavy metals they may contain at those larger sizes?

I'm also guessing that not too many of you fish land based and get to see the effort put in by some folke just hoping to catch a just legal bream. I think a lot of you people who just put hooks in fish only for fun get a bit carried away applying the "lets go hard it doesn't effect me rule"

That's more like it. 30 per day in a normal season is very easy to do. 23cm is a bit small so 25cm seems a bit better. However, if you cannot get a fillet off a 23cm bream there is something very wrong with the technique. 25mm is not much more so if there is difficulty at 23cm it won't be much easier at 25.

I prefer to let the large 'breeders' go back and keep only between 25cm and 30cm.

The Pin has never varied in the numbers of bream caught. Not since 1976 anyway and even in the 1980's some older bream fishermen said that the number and quality hadn't varied since the 1940's.

Decline in the numbers of cod, mullett and whiting has definitely taken place but not bream.

This season has been a bit different but this winter is warmer and the water temperature was still higher than normal a few weeks ago.

I think it will be the same in another thirty years, especially if net fishing could be banned on the outer beach. The Pin would improve even further if netting was banned from the northern end of Russell to south of the Coomera. And improve very quickly.

Tomorrow and the next couple of weeks will let me see if this season is shaping up even though it is a late start. Will report back in a couple of weeks.

Hey Straddie and Tigermullet,

I can understand were you guys are coming from as only last year i was struggling to catch a single legal bream at 23cm, but now after practice i have found spots were i know fish are. I also agree with Gagga, if theyre not catching fish landbased at the moment, if the sizes get increased and limits made, it will allow these people struggling to catch fish to catch more as there will be more around.

I understand that bream have been around in good numbers for plenty of years but there is no reason why an increase of 2-5cm can cause any damage, it will only make the time more enjoyable on the water.

Im glad to see your guys sides to the story aswell, cheers!!

[MeePee_99]

Nagg, Lucky to be a mouthful

[MeePee_99]

GCC, an increase of 2-5cm maybe 2 or 3 extra times spawns, which means more fish Straddie. WHich is all good!!!!

[Moonlighter]

Hi Guys

I have it on good authority that in the soon to be released Inshore Finfish Plan that bream min size will increase and a sensible bag limit will come into force in Qld.

Whilst we all say we would like this or that, really as someone pointed out earlier in this thread these decisions need to be made based on solid data and research, not on a argument based on opinions about what people would "like" or think is a good idea!

The changes to bream (and also whiting) that will be announced shortly are based on good fisheries management science. This, I'm told, is all about setting a size where the majority of the species population has the opportunity to breed at least once and where the total population is clearly sustainable.

The agreed change was, I understand, supported by both the pros and rec fishing sectors once the science was there in front of them to prove the breeding size ranges. Then the benefits were clear to everyone.

The change will cost the pro's a considerable amount because most bream they catch are netted and they will have to change the mesh size they use for bream and whiting (because whiting sizes will also increase (to 27cm as well so I hear)

In case you didn't know, pros use different types and sized nets for different species, and select a mesh size that lets undersize fish pass through - this is because they don't want to waste valuable fishing time having to sort through and measure every fish, so they typically use a mesh size that undersized fish easily pass thu and that will only catch clearly legal sized fish.

Dont forget, if those guys get caught with 1 undersized fish on board its their licence and livelihood in jeopardy and thay can be hit with fines much heavier than us rec fishers.

In my opinion, this increase for bream and whiting will be a good change and I think most "thinking" anglers will support it when it comes out.

Grant

[tigermullet]

Tigermullet if everyone is taking home 30 fish a day @ 25 - 30cm there will be no more 'large breaders' in the future

It will never happen. Remember the old 10% rule

Some can do it but others are, well...just like my mate. He can cast into a mob of schooled up bream that are feeding like mad and be lucky to hook one, let alone land one, per hour.

It's really good to watch. And the one or two he catches, he tries to fillet. Due to lack of practice they end up looking as if they had been put through a mincing machine.

He's dead keen though and is convinced that he needs more and better gear. Thousands have been spent without result. Tens of thousands actually and that's not counting the boat.

Twenty years! Not one single sign of improvement in all that time. The only way he is ever going to 'bag out' is if the limit is put at two.

[straddie]

Heya GCC

I kind of go ok catching fish so I don't usually have a need to keep a 23cm bream so I am not speaking from a position where I feel I will be disadvantaged personally from any increase.

Grant Bennet - I have always thought fair bag limits were needed, however I was of the belief bream matured here in QLD at app 21-22 and the 23cm limit did give them the opportunity to breed once or twice. If there is data to suggest otherwise and they need a bigger limit to allow that then it's a good thing.

[oldboot]

I think some alowance has to be made for differences in growth rate and possibly differeing spicies or strains in different places.

I went to the fin fish review meetings and there were quite a few size increases proposed.

In QLD there are a group of fish that are and have been for a long time at 23cm
bream, whiting & liderick ai think are the main suspects.

One proposal was to increase the bream size up to 25cm to come in line with NSW........part of this proposal was to deal with the "Tweed Issue".

The predominating constraint is netting....when a coupl of blokes in a boat can scoop up boxes full of bream in a swipe It make a couple of score line caught bream insignificant.

Up here a 30cm+ bream is considered large, and line caught, land based it is common to catch quite a few undersized at 23cm.

One other point that must be understood is that all amateur bag limits proposed are, " in possesion", which includes fish in the freezer at home.
That puts a different complexion on a 50 bag limit.


Its just occured to me there may be an unconsidered trap too.
Is a filleted fish frame considered a fish in possesion for the porposes of abag limits..........If so then does two fillets also constitute a fish.
Hmmm I wonder if anybody has thaught about that one.

The whole thing has been very well nailed down with crabs.
Unless for "immediate consumption"
being in possesion of crab meat... illegal
being in possesion of crab without the shell..... illegal
Possesion of crab parts.....illegal
So to legaly store a crab it must be whole

I expect bream whiting & luderick to go up to 25cm.

As for filleting........a fish that small gutted and headed, cooked whole isnt too bad, two 23cm bream is a meal.
Filleting a 23cm bream you leave half the meat behind inbetween the vertical bones.

There are a lot of people who will use 23cm bream as live bait.


I draw the line at 25cm these days, & that is common up here.

cheers

[Gold_Coast_Chaser]

Hey Guys,


Thanks Grant Bennett and Oldboot for putting in some very useful info.

I think after viewing all the responses the first step that is needed to increase the legal limit would be to knock it up to 25cm legal limit with a bag limit of 30ish.

After reading i believe the main problem with increasing the size is that it affects the netters dramatically, im guessing they would have to buy whole new nets to adjust to the fish size. So it will be a big change for them just for 2cm

I think if it was 25cm instead of 23cm, although it isnt much, it will make it a lot better as everyone will keep a more quality fish.

Cheers Guys!

[Barrykrocker]

I would fully support a 5 per day max at minimum 30cm. Qld's 'regulations' (/lack thereof) are a disgrace.

In general, given the slow growth of Bream, I avoid keeping them.

And to the guys who want to keep 25 or 30 fish each a day, no doubt you live in more remote areas, because I assure no one would entertain the idea of catching that many crowed in a densely populated area like Sydney or the Pitttwater. Do you know why? Most are gone.