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Fishinmishin,
No personal dig intended, but the practice of targeting spawning aggregations is inherently unsustainable. #Spawning aggregation sites tend to become well known and when there is a large fishing effort the number of spawns from these aggregations can be significantly reduced. #
It may seem like a drop in a proverbial bucket when you considder the number of eggs released per spawn, but the survival of egg to juvenile fish can be less than 1%. #Therefore a fish needs to stick around to spawn several times to make a large imput into fish stocks (most marine fish will spawn several times in a spawning season). #
Spawning aggregations can contain fish from a wide ranging area, and the larvae can travel huge distances for recruitment, therefore targeting these sites not only affect the local area, but also areas far removed ie. targeting spawning aggregations can cause a large reduction in down-current stocks. #
Note that the scientific evidence for size and bag limits is incomplete to say the least, and mainly focusses on commercially important species. #To maintain the integrity of such stocks it has been deemed necessary to prevent fishing over the spawning period (eg. barramundi and reef fish fisheries). #I am sure the same would be concluded if the same research effort was put into other species. #
Finally, if we as recreational fishermen (and women) are to avoid being excessively regulated we need to self-regulate and educate ourselves on the least damaging fishing practices. #
Fish for the future.
Originally Posted by DC
