Eating Fish near Coogee area?

[Triman023]

Hey all, 

Hope all is well, im an Adelaide based fisherman who might be moving to Sydney for uni next year. I love all kinds of fishing be it finesse luring, eging or general rock fishing. As much as I love catch and release, i also love keeping a feed. I was doing a bit of research and learned about dioxin pollution in Sydney harbor and sewerage outlets near Coogee. I was wondering abt some general areas where I could regularly safely keep a feed of fish? Thanks in advance 

[BaitDropper]

Hi Triman, I think you'll  find, that 5-6 years back, sewage escaped into the bay around coogee, due to tree roots damaging the sewage pipes and they also had a lot of pollution due to the high rain fall levels we had last year, via the storm water pipes, which will always be an issue after heavy rains.  There's no sewage piped with direct outlets anywhere in the harbor, to my knowledge, but I think I'm safe in saying that.

Like all other things, environmental factors always come into play, especially with storm water pipes.

I'd would rather eat anything I caught, than take a gamble with some of the cheap food outlets that the poor students frequent !!  😁

Bring all your gear with you, I'm sure plenty of good folks here will steer you in the right direction, with regard to good fishing spots.  The only warning I would give, if you catch a fish with that 3rd eye, right in the center of it's noggin, best not eat those, it's been an unsolved Sydney mystery for decades  😁 ( kidding).

Oh, and welcome to the site.

[Triman023]

16 minutes ago, BaitDropper said:

Hi Triman, I think you'll  find, that 5-6 years back, sewage escaped into the bay around coogee, due to tree roots damaging the sewage pipes and they also had a lot of pollution due to the high rain fall levels we had last year, via the storm water pipes, which will always be an issue after heavy rains.  There's no sewage piped with direct outlets anywhere in the harbor, to my knowledge, but I think I'm safe in saying that.

Like all other things, environmental factors always come into play, especially with storm water pipes.

I'd would rather eat anything I caught, than take a gamble with some of the cheap food outlets that the poor students frequent !!  😁

Bring all your gear with you, I'm sure plenty of good folks here will steer you in the right direction, with regard to good fishing spots.  The only warning I would give, if you catch a fish with that 3rd eye, right in the center of it's noggin, best not eat those, it's been an unsolved Sydney mystery for decades  😁 ( kidding).

Oh, and welcome to the site.

Cheers for the welcome mate! looking forward to fishing and learning new country and ill keep an eye out for those cheeky three eyed buggers 🤣

[big Neil]

Welcome to the forum Triman023. Trust you will find the fishing pretty good once you get your bearings around Sydney. Good luck with your studies too.

bn

[Little_Flatty]

 @Triman023!

Sydney Harbour and all its tributaries is the main waterway of concern. The official advice is 150grams of fish a month, but if you read the fine print, that's for bream: Fishing in Sydney Harbour (nsw.gov.au). BUT Flathead, leatherjackets, luderick, kingfish etc you can have about 1800g a month. All those fish are better eating than bream anyway, in my opinion! These days, I release all my bream and keep the better eating species.

Don't eat anything upstream of the harbour bridge, but given you'll probably be residing close to Coogee, (assuming you're attending UNSW?), those waters won't be convenient to you anyway.

One more thing to note is that if you are considering fishing the ocean rocks around Coogee, you need life jackets and other safety equipment, plus lots of experience or an experienced friend to take you. I'm no expert on this, but there's plenty up here who can help. Failing that, google 'Sydney rock fishing guide' and that will lead you to a well known Sydney fishing guide who specialises in teaching rock/beach fishing skills. In the meantime, read this: Rock fishing lifejacket law and declared areas | NSW Government (your area will be the Randwick map).

Anyhow, let us know more about yourself, particularly the types fishing you like to do and we'll be able to help you.

[Yowie]

A school mate used to spearfish around the Malabar murks back in the late 1960's/70's. He swam amongst the 'blind mullet' floating on the surface, took fish home for eating, appeared to be okay after that.

He asked me if I wanted to go spearing with him - not *%$#&* likely to happen.  

I think it is a lot cleaner these days, though I don't venture that way at all any more.