Characteristics of movement of adult King George whiting (Percoidei: Sillaginidae) in South

In South Australia there are numerous historical tag/ recapture databases ofmovement information for King George whiting (Sillaginodes punctata). These indicate that patterns of movement varied between locations. Fish from Gulf St. Vincent moved southwards up to several hundred kilonretres, but those from the south moved shorter distances, and showed no systematic directional displacement. Consequently, population size and age structures varied sysrematically throughout the fishery area. Fish moved from shallow areas dominated by seagrass meadows to deep offshore reefs and shoals, where spawning occurred. Consequenfly, adult movement is an obligate process in the life history, which ultimately sustains the populations in these spawning localities. The human activity most likely to impact on this process is fishing. As fish move southwards they must run the intensive fishing 'gauntlet ' targeted at their capture. Estimates offishing mortality on the small, young adult fish are very high. Consequently, management must focus on ensuring sufficient escapement from the northern localities to sustain the popularions on the spawning grounds