![]() Taking or possessing bluefish from NSW waters other than the waters of the Lord Howe Island Marine Park is an offence, and heavy penalties apply. Protecting bluefish from fishing activities in coastal waters should assist the recovery of the NSW mainland coastal population.Commercial fishing for bluefish is not allowed in the marine park. Bluefish are common in the waters of Lord Howe Island, and therefore there is an exemption to allow fishing for them in habitat protection zones within the Lord Howe Island Marine Park, with a bag limit of five fish per person.Spearfishers have reported declining numbers of bluefish over recent decades.Similarly, recreational anglers seldom catch the species however, rock fishers targeting blackfish and drummer occasionally catch bluefish. Catches of bluefish by mainland commercial fishers are rare and there hasn’t been a recording of bluefish in the Sydney markets for the past 25 years.Being a long-lived species, bluefish may also become sexually mature at a relatively late age and therefore be vulnerable to overexploitation. Commercial and recreational fishing catches over the last century may have had a serious impact on the NSW coastal population of bluefish, particularly if the coastal population has always been of limited size.In 1916 Roughley reported that bluefish were rarely seen in the Sydney fish markets, concluding that they did not occur on the NSW coast in any abundance. Bluefish seem to prefer offshore island habitats, and may never have been common in NSW coastal waters.The diet of bluefish is known to consist of crustaceans, smaller fishes, molluscs and other marine organisms, including calcareous seaweeds, brittlestars, cunjevoi and marine worms.This suggests that the species is long lived and therefore may be vulnerable to overexploitation. NSW DPI research suggests that fish around 52 cm (fork length) are approximately 39 years old.Bluefish are not common in NSW coastal waters but are occasionally found within the Solitary Islands Marine Park and have been reported off Port Stephens. ![]() Juveniles live in tidal pools, and adults form schools over reef areas.They can be found in coastal and offshore rocky reef areas in NSW from depths of 5–30 m. Bluefish are ocean dwellers and do not generally enter rivers or estuaries.The body changes to a grey-green colour after death. These unusual colours make it easy to distinguish bluefish from other closely related drummer and blackfish species. They have a bright blue colour with small yellow spots. Heavy penalties apply for taking or possessing bluefish.īluefish can reach a length of up to 76 cm. Bluefish are also found at Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, the Kermadec Islands and the North Island of New Zealand.īluefish are protected from fishing under the Fisheries Management (General) Regulation 2019 in all NSW waters other than the waters of Lord Howe Island Marine Park. Bluefish ( Girella cyanea) are a robust reef fish in the drummer/blackfish family Kyphosidae.īluefish are found in the south-west Pacific Ocean and occur along the east coast of Australia from Flinders Reef off Cape Moreton in Queensland to Eden in southern New South Wales.
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