The RAP Report
November 2020
Welcome to the latest NSW Research Angler Program (RAP) newsletter. In this edition we will be focusing on some of our faster-growing species - Kingfish and Tailor. You might be surprised just how quickly these fish can reach legal size, and how young your catch might be. We also have some great catches from our recent monthly winners.
New monthly winner prizes
For our monthly winners, there is now a new prize to choose from. In the past, our winners received a $50 gift voucher to one of our participating drop off locations. Now you have the choice between a voucher or one of our cool new RAP long sleeve fishing shirts. Featuring Mulloway and Snapper "skeletons", the design fits well with the program and is the perfect addition for your next fishing adventure. The shirts are excellent quality and are 100% Australian made!
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Live fast, grow fast!
Some of the species we collect and age as part of the RAP can take many years to reach a trophy size, however, there are a few species that have an accelerated growth rate from hatching, reaching maturity and legal-size at a young age. Amazingly, as you'll see below, both Kingfish and Tailor are capable of reaching legal size within their first year and can reach trophy size in only a few more years.
Kingfish
 The amazingly fast growth rate of Kingfish has regularly been observed in the program. A recent example of just how fast kingies can grow is a 70.5 cm fish caught by Ross Bishop-Gatenby (pictured). Ross's king was aged by our facility at just one-year-old! The largest one-year-old Kingfish we have recorded is a 78 cm specimen caught in Sydney. Although these fish may be reported as one year old they may be in fact 18 months old but similar to our age the last total year is recorded. 
The graph below shows the ages of kingies that have been donated to the program over the past eight years. While we have seen that kings can reach a legal size within a year, this is only likely to be individual fish in optimal conditions and can vary regionally. For example, some of the Kingfish we've aged have taken three or four years to reach these lengths, showing not all fish grow at the same rate, even when they're juveniles.
Figure 1 - Graph depicting average total lengths (cm) by age (years) of Kingfish donated to the Research Angler Program.
Staying with the subject of fast growth rates a trophy fish of 1 m could be as young as three years - younger than a typical legal Snapper of 30 cm! On average, however, a 1 m Kingfish would usually be 5-6 years of age.
Kirt Irvine recently submitted this trophy 1.3 m Kingfish to the program and was surprised to hear it was only five years old! Kurt was lucky enough to score one of our monthly prizes for his efforts.
Another interesting fact about Kingfish is the size of their otoliths (ear bones), which are very small in comparison to their body size. Keen readers of the RAP newsletter are probably used to seeing large otoliths from Mulloway. Below you can see the difference between a Mulloway (left, 93 cm) and a Kingfish (right, 127.8cm). Bit of a difference, hey?
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Tailor
Tailor are another example of a fast-maturing fish, with the majority of legal-sized fish (30 cm) donated to the program being aged at just one-year-old. These small Tailor, or choppers, are regularly caught at this size along the NSW coast, such as this one as donated by Martina (pictured).
In the graph below you can see fish of legal size donated can vary from under 1 to about 2 years in age. Like all fish, differences in growth rates are dependant on genetics as well as environmental factors such as food availability and water temperature this can lead to considerable variability amongst individual fish of the same species. Growth rates can also vary regionally.
Figure 2 - Graph depicting average total length (cm) and age (years) of Tailor donated to the Research Angler Program.
 Tailor continue to maintain their impressive growth rate and once they become a little larger gain the title of a "greenback". Fish such as Dean Grant's previously donated Lake Macquarie fish measured 81 cm and was aged at an impressive 6 years old. We have also had some truly monstrous Tailor donated to the program with two exceptional fish caught in St Georges Basin. The larger fish measured 98.5 cm and weighed 7.8kg aged at 13 years. The other measured 96.6 cm and aged at 11 years old.
For their size Tailor also have relatively small otoliths (shown below in comparison to a 93 cm Mulloway otolith). However, when compared to Kingfish, Tailor still have relatively large otoliths with the average 35 cm chopper Tailor having an otolith the same size as a 1.3 m kingie.
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Monthly Winners!
This edition we have had some great catches by our lucky monthly winners.
Chad Kelly and son Noah ventured out on Newcastle Harbour and had a productive day landing five Mulloway (tagging and releasing four). Chad donated his catch of this 111 cm Mulloway to the RAP and it has since been aged at 6 years old.
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Jillian Taylforth had a great initiation into fishing for Mulloway. Using soft plastics on Botany Bay Jillian was able to land this 101 cm Mulloway. Jillian was thrilled with her catch and was happy to donate the otoliths for research after keeping the fish for a feed. This fish has since been aged at 8 years old.
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Tony Morrissey was also fishing Newcastle Harbour with friends when he managed to land this awesome 108 cm Mulloway. It was one of seven caught on the day with four other fish being tagged and released. Tonys fish was aged at 7 years old.
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Robert Verzin was also one of our lucky monthly winners when he caught this impressive 121 cm Mulloway on a recent holiday to Port Stephens. Roberts Mulloway was aged at 7 years old.
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How can you get involved with the RAP?
Donate your frames
If you're interested in citizen science and are lucky enough to catch a Mulloway, Kingfish, Snapper, Dusky Flathead, Tailor, Black Bream, Spanish or Spotted Mackerel of any legal size, donate your fish frame at any participating drop-off point.
Join the Keen Anglers or tagging program
If you're an avid angler and would like to join the RAP team we are looking for anglers to join the Keen Angler Program and Mulloway Tagging Program. Please send us an email to find out more.
Monthly prize draws
All fish frame donations made to the RAP program gain one entry into the monthly prize draw for one of five $50 gift vouchers at selected tackle stores or a RAP long sleeve fishing shirt. Our lure promotion for all Mulloway donations is still running, so if you catch and donate a Mulloway frame you will win a packet of Berkley Powerbait Swim Shads.
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