i went to a well known fish supplier yesterday to buy some bait.walked in could see this huge groper for sale and heads.thought it was illegal to catch groper

what? really? that would make me feel pretty angry and sad.

Pissible the same answer as the commercially available undersized abalone and crayfish mentioned in anther thread.

is it legal to catch them interstate???

You can catch Groper here in SA, illegal in the gulfs,Investigator Strait and Backstairs Passage.

Here one that I caught back in 97 of Olive Island, Streaky Bay

Its ok to catch groper here-but you must make sure its not in the protected zone. I'd love to have a pic of me with one-thatd be great-nice pic Moggy23 lucky bugger

cocky wrote:


Thanks for the question.

Blue Groper cannot be taken by recreational fishers, in Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent and extending to Kangaroo Island. The exact boundary can be found on Page 18 of the Recreational Fishing Guide. They may be taken elsewhere in the state, subject to size / bag limits, but of course cannot be sold.

State licensed commercial fisherman are not permitted to take Blue Groper at all, as it is not a permitted species, as per the Marine Scalefish Regulations.

Blue Groper may be taken as bycatch by Commonwealth (AFMA) licensed fishers fishing in SA. They are restricted to a 50kg bycatch limit of Blue Groper per trip. This would most likely be the source of the Blue Groper that you observed for sale. Depending on where the Commonwealth fishers have been fishing, it is not uncommon for them to catch one or two of these each trip.


Hope this helps.

Troy Harris
Fisheries Officer Birkenhead

certainly does thanx

Moggy23 wrote:


You look so much younger there Moggy what happen nice fish by the way