Fishing limits
Size limit: No minimum legal length
| Fishing zone | Daily bag limit | Daily boat limit |
|---|---|---|
| Spencer Gulf | 1 | 3 |
| Gulf St Vincent and Kangaroo Island | 1 | 2 |
| All other waters | 1 | 3 |
Species with combined daily fishing limits
- Bigeye Thresher
- Black Stingray
- Broadnose Sevengill Shark
- Bronze Whaler
- Common Thresher
- Dusky Whaler
- Melbourne Skate
- School Shark
- Shortfin Mako
- Smooth Hammerhead Shark
- Smooth Stingray
Fishing gear restrictions apply to metropolitan shark fishing.
Learn about the rules and handling guidelines for fishing for sharks and rays.
Identification
Dusky Whalers have:
- a dark brown to grey colour on the dorsal side
- pale to white underside
- charcoal to black tips on the underside of most fins
- a short, broadly rounded snout
- long upper tail lobes
- triangular, serrated teeth.
Dusky Whalers have a distinct ridge running between the 2 dorsal fins on their back towards their tail. This ridge can also have small wavy lines running away from it.
Some Dusky Whalers have a slimy coating covering the upper side of their body. They grow slowly and range in size up to 3.5 m, living for up to 55 years. Dusky Whalers feed on:
- a wide variety of invertebrates
- fish
- squid
- other sharks and rays
- marine mammals.
Spotting the differences between Dusky Whalers and Bronze Whalers
The Dusky Whaler and Bronze Whaler shark species are very similar in appearance. Fishers can use our identification guide ( ) to quickly spot the differences between the two.
Habitat
Dusky Whalers live in the continental shelf and gulf waters of South Australia. They are sometimes caught in the same water as Bronze Whaler sharks.
While mostly found in tropical and sub-tropical waters, they are highly migratory.
Large juveniles move to temperate waters between South Australia and Western Australia during the warmer periods of late spring, summer, and early autumn.