Bream Growth Rate

[Leighton]

With the few recent posts regarding the numbers of Bream caught and the moral Police flashing there badges and the public muckraking session from both sides.

I thought it was interesting when there was a segment on Bream Growth rates on a fishing show over the weekend ( cant remember the shows name )
From memory it was regarding the Southern States and Black Bream.

Long and short of it was that the DPI had devised a measuring sticker that gave an average weight and age for a Bream that was measured.
Bit of and eye opener, it can take up to 5 years for a Bream to reach legal size, a Bream of 30 odd cm could be as old as 30 years and Bream can live to over 60 years.
There was also a measuring sticker made up for Snapper.
Dont quote me on the figures but it was an eye opener regarding the age of Bream.

[BtotheM]

They are extremely slow growing fish and thats why i hate it when people take so many of them.

Hope people think twice about killing a bream that can be over 30 - 40 years old

[MeePee_99]

Yes, very slow growing fish indeed and again i hate people killing so many because of it

[Leighton]

thanks fellas but didnt want to start another battle regarding take or no take.
Im more interested on actual growth rates of Bream and other species for that matter

[MeePee_99]

Not the intention

[MeePee_99]

whiting and flatties are alot faster growing then bream

[Cammy]

Is a bit of an eye opener i new bream grew really slow but when you say, 30cm 30 years, extremely slow, im suprised they manage to stay in the ocean without getting eaten or being in the wrong place and the wrong time for 30 years, but i guess it is a big place that covers 70% of the world or somthing like that. I have witnessed bream growing 2 cm in 3 months before, but that was in my tank.

Cam

[Outsider1]

Lots of interesting research documented on this paper. Whislt it is WA based, it also references East Coast research;

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/frr/frr093/frr093.pdf

Cheers

Dave

[Outsider1]

And this Species ID guide has life span estimates for most of the the species listed. Again WA based, but lots of east coast species listed;

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/W...sid_2006_4.pdf

Cheers

Dave

[NAGG]

Not wanting to fuel a take or no take debate ....... When I heard of the growth rates & aging of bream a number of years back , my attitude to bream changed completely.......
These days ...... I love fishing for these wily old fish on lures & really enjoy seeing them swim off to live for many more years!

Nagg

[Fishbait]

I was just reading about this last night in an old "Encyclopedia of Australian Fishing" from 1979. Hence, when I found your question , I went and located the page again. It states:
"Their growth rate is slow. In the first year, a black bream attains a length of 7.5cm and by five (5) years of age it has grown a further 16cm. Bream do not reach sexual maturity until they are about 21cm in length."
Hope this helps. Probably not as reliable compared to new research out there but may make a start to what your asking about?
Cheers,
Darren.

[Keechie]

bream are very slow growers as why i get a bit annoyed with people catching 50 bream that are over 35cm as this fish is most likely 20 years or older and they are taking them home.i was watching ifish yesterday while i was home sick and they caught a 45cm bream and they were saying it could be as old as 50 and young as 40 years of age so it goes to show how slow some fish grow.

regards,
keechie

[RAT-KING]

In my old town in South Australia Its known for having the biggest black bream in Australia! They are rare and hard to catch not like here where u can get 50 in an outing! I have only caught 1 undersize fish there, the rest were between 38- 50cm fn huge I only ever caught 2 in 1 day once 1 was 48 the other 50cm but Ive heard of 60cm+ fish in there out of all of the bream i caught I only kept 2, luckily I knew they grew slow but some of these fish were twice the age of me!
Cheers Simon