Acanthopagrus Butcheri

Black bream have a silvery brown upper body with brown and black fins. They grow up to sixty centimetres long and weigh up to four kilograms. They are one of the most important recreationally and commercially fished species in the estuaries of south-western Australia. Black bream complete their whole lifecycle within an estuary and can cope with salinity and temperature changes that would kill many other species.

One way local Menang Noongar people would have caught black bream is with fish traps. Remains of these traps can be found in Oyster Harbour and the Kalgan River in Albany and are believed to be 6500-7000 years old. Though the traps are no longer in use, some are still intact, and the stones can be seen at low tide.

The fish trap design is both sustainable and effective. Archaeologists were surprised to find that instead of large rocks weighing the fish traps down on the bottom, they were on the top instead. At high tide, the fish would be herded into the traps and become caught by the receding tide. Small rocks would be let out of the walls so that more fish could swim away, thus ensuring fish for following years.

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Original pen and ink drawing printed onto 310gsm Canson Aquarelle Rag using archival inks and is signed by the artist, Phoebe Duff.

All Ancient Nectar prints are limited editions of 25 and are numbered in the bottom left corner.

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