dead bream found

[torvic]

Last night a friend and I were walking the shores of freshy bay near the yacht club for some scoop crabbing and a look-see around the area. Walking along in the dark with the torch on and what do I almost step on? A massive DEAD black bream which turned out to be 43 cm later when I measured it on the jetty. It had been dead for at least a day as it smelt <<<BAD>>>. What a waste of what was once a beautiful fish :(

Not sure how much it would have weighed you guys with the experience could probably give a rough figure.

What do you think caused this? It had no visible signs of injury and I dont think a fish of this size and experience (older than me!) would beach itself. I know lots of non fishos have been bugging me with comments like 'dont fish in the river its polluted because of the sewerage spill yada yadaa'. But if the leakage was severe enough the fisheries would have done somehing about it.

My guess that a shark or dolphin had chased and beached it, what do you guys think?

[Mitch]

Hey torvic,

Interesting point that you've brought up, last September I found a number of (big) dead bream around Garvey Park..now I would have guessed they were poisoned as there were no signs of serious damage on the fish..but the dog I was walking ate them like there was no tomorrow (couldnt stop him, loved the tasty little suckers) and he didn't get sick. Not that that's much to go by as it would only take a very small amount of poison/pollution to kill a Bream (I would think), which shouldn't affect a dog of his size. But still it was a mystery as to what killed them.

Anyway I doubt the shark/dolphin theory, more likely the pollution..I heard about a spill around there in the last week.

Anyone else got something to add???

[flathead_fred]

hi guys,
this is only my second post in two days of joining up to this site. um thats interesting about the bream because i also have found a number of largish bream around the placein my local area either floating on the surface or up on the bank. if it was poisoning i dont see why it would specific to large bream which you would think to be more resistant to environmental changes....maybe. heres a far out stab in the dark, if they are all big bream do you think it could be a result of mistreatment by the many new anglers to the sport of catch and release bream fishing. if they wete the big ones it could be a problem of water quality in the live well of some of the boats, as there might be a leak, or some sort or contamination. anyway, its distressing to see such wonderful sports fish go to waste.

seeya

[Jake]

Torvic,

Some of the Local Councils have reported the growth of Blue Green Algae up stream. BGA releases a very potent toxin as it grows, effectively choking the waterways. It is possible that the fish have come into contact with the toxin from the algae and snuffed it as a result. The main hole to my theory is the lak of dead smaller fish. although they may have been consumed by birds and otherriver dwellers.


Jake:confused:

[Mattj]

BGA would be my guess too. It happens almost on a yearly basis in some of the smaller south western rivers ie Wonnerup near Busselton. I think its ususally late summer too - dont quote me
Poor fellas
Matt:eek: