Snapper has been fished since the early development of the colony around Sydney Harbour in the late 18th century, but it was the arrival of steam power in the 1860’s that enabled fishers to start regularly targeting the abundant schools of snapper occurring in the deep-water fishing grounds...

Most of the world’s marine fish harvest still comes from coastal waters despite the rapid development of distant water fishing fleets (McHugh, 1967). Fish yields from estuaries and lagoons are generally high, due to factors including shallowness, inflow of nutrients from rivers, and the...