TOWNSVILLE PIKEY BREAM 2018

Moderate Take For Consumption Advised

Forecast Pending

Heavy harvesting of Bream is not recommended, but a moderate take for consumption is unlikely to adversely affect stocks based on available data. Evidence from the Qld Fisheries boat ramp surveys suggests that most fish are released but with only a single year of data, this will need to be assessed as additional data is collected.

NOTE: Moderate take means taking what is required for immediate needs.

Monitoring of Recreational Catch by Qld Fisheries

Queensland Fisheries monitors boat ramps up and down the coast as a part of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy. Fishers in Townsville regularly report catching Pikey Bream with most being returned to the water. Monitoring began in 2017 and continues in 2018.

• Pikey Bream was the 3rd most commonly reported species in 2017
• An average size 271mm for Pikey Bream was reported in 2017
• Recreational fishers reported a catch rate of 0.5 fish per day in 2017
• 88% of fish reported in 2017 were released
• 67% of fish reported in 2017 were caught by locals
• The peak period for Pikey Bream catches in 2017 was during August

Bream as a Sports Species

Pikey Bream are a sports species in South East Queensland where the opportunity to compete in the ABT Bream Tournaments is a motivator for fishers to develop their bream skills. In Townsville Bream are not considered a sports species with limited catches of bream reported during the year by Sportfishers. None the less catches are tracked and if members of the community wish to participated in data collection we would encourage contacting Infofish Australia.

• A Catch Rate of 4.73 fish/fisher/day has been reported by Sportfishers in 2018 so far
• The catch mix in 2018 is dominated by undersize fish (74%) followed by legal fish (26%). No trophy bream have reported so far in 2018

A snapshot of local sportfishers / Suntaggers catch data is available:

Commercial Fishing Catch

Queensland Fisheries monitors commercial catches up and down the coast. Commercial fishers are required to maintain logbooks of catch and report quarterly. The commercial catch of Pikey Bream in Townsville (see Area Fished section) represented 0.2% share of the total statewide catch. Monitoring is ongoing in 2018.

• Commercial Catch rate declined between 2016 and 2017 with 13.2kg/fisher/day and 12.4kg/fisher/day reported, respectively
• Number of active licenses has ranged between 5 and 16 over the last decade with 5 licences active in 2017.
• Commercial catch in 2017 was 0.21T, compared to 0.46T in 2016.

Monitoring of Bream Recruitment

The annual recruitment of Pikey Bream is not monitored in Townsville but is scheduled to begin in 2018.

Monitoring of Bream

Data for this assessment has been sourced from:

• Bureau of Meterology
• Queensland Fisheries
• Suntag

Here are links to all the monitoring pages for Bream:

• Local Sportfishers
• Townsville Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys
• Townsville Queensland Commercial Catch 

Area Assessed

Barramundi are caught throughout the Townsville region and fish are stocked in the Russell. Commercial catches are assessed on Grids I21,J21,K21,L21,L22.