Kingfish Populations in New South Wales are on a rapid decline, particularly larger fish which are becoming increasingly scarce, there is only one way to help recover the population before it is too late. NSW DPI must increase the minimum size to 75cm and reduce the bag limit to 2 per person in order to allow for a increase in overall population.

Why must the size limit increase? 
Currently the legal size for a kingfish is 65cm with a bag limit of 5 per person, this results in many juvenile kingfish being killed before reaching the age of maturity in which they can breed (roughly 85cm).

What happens if I can’t catch any kingfish over 75cm?
Kingfish are fast growing fish, only taking the average fish 4-6 months to grow from 65cm - 80cm. Meaning that whilst there will be a short period of time in which legal kingfish may become scarce, this should typically only last for less than a year before we see a rapid increase in the overall average size fish.

How are we sure an increase in size limit will result in a bigger average size fish?

As seen in the previous size increase from 60cm-65cm in NSW, the average size fish quickly increased to meet the new minimum size. Continuously, we can mirror the effects observed in New Zealand’s fishery, which has a minimum size limit of 75cm (to the fork), resulting in the average size fish being much larger then seen here in NSW.

If your worried that this change will impact your chances at bringing home a legal fish, the fact is that the average size fish will quickly catch up to the minimum size implemented by NSW Fisheries, and will result in you catching many more legal size fish whom maintain a much greater weight, and thus lead to much more meat being able to be harvested off of a single fish.

Help the Kingfish before it’s too late, sign the petition.