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Black Bream Report Card

Aquatic Plants

B

Aquatic Plants

Macroinvertebrates

C

Black Bream

D

Waterbirds

D

Fish Kills

A

Water Quality

B

Black Bream (Acanthopagrus butcheri) are an important commercial and recreational fish species in the Vasse Wonnerup wetlands and have been severely impacted by major fish kills.  As a long-lived fish species that spend their entire life in the wetlands the Black Bream are an important indicator of fish health.

Two indicators were developed for Black Bream, one measuring recruitment of juvenile fish and the other body condition of adult fish.  Fish monitoring undertaken in spring and summer in the Wonnerup Inlet and Deadwater is used to calculate the indicators following methodology developed by Murdoch University.

2023 Black Bream Grades

Recruitment

D

Body Condition

-

Insufficient numbers

Key Findings

  • A total of 212 Black Bream was recorded throughout Wonnerup Inlet and the Deadwater in November 2023 and January 2024.
  • Catches of juvenile Black Bream in seine nets in November 2023 were similar to those in November 2020 and 2021, but seven times lower than 2022 which was the highest ever recorded.
  • Recruitment in 2023 was graded D. This was the fourth year from the last five where a Poor grade was achieved and is a substantial decline from the A grade in 2022.
  • Insufficient Black Bream were caught to produce a reliable body condition index.
  • A Bottlenose dolphin was observed feeding on fish from gill nets in the Wonnerup Inlet in January, which may have affected the catch rate in this region as fish were schooling against the banks for safety.

Black Bream Grades Over Time

YearRecruitmentBody ConditionDownload Reports
2023DInsufficient numbersDownload Report
2022AADownload Report
2021DInsufficient numbersDownload Report
2020DD
2019Not sampledNot sampled
2018BE
2017CNot sampled

Grades

A

Excellent

B

Very Good

C

Fair

D

Poor

E

Very Poor

Map of where Black Bream were monitored

View other report cards

Aquatic Plants

B

Aquatic Plants

Macroinvertebrates

C

Waterbirds

D

Fish Kills

A

Water Quality

B