Found from Myall Lake in central New South Wales to the Murchison River in Western Australia (Ref. 28468), including Tasmania, the islands of Bass Strait and Kangraroo Island. They are absent from the Great Australian Bight region due to the lack of estuarine habitat there. Known from Shark bay (Western Australia) eastward to Mallacoota (Victoria) (Ref. 44894).

Stock structure: The stock structure of black bream is uncertain. It has been proposed that separate stock of this species exist in each estuary (Ref. 28261). This theory is plausible for black bream, where little movement of fish between estuaries occurs.

Commercial fishery: Most of the commercial catch of black bream is taken from Victorian waters. Within Victoria, the Gippsland Lakes fishery is by far the most important, accounting for more than 80% of the State catch. Black bream have been fished commercially there since the 1880s, and were the major species in the commercial catch prior to about 1920, when catches declined to less than 50 t per year from the previous level of about 250 t per year. Yellow-eye mullet (Aldrichetta forsteri) dominated the Gippsland Lakes fishery for the next 4 decades until black bream landings recovered in the mid 1960s. Catches since then have ranged between 200 t and 400 t per year. Other Victorian estuaries which produce significant commercial catches are Mallacoota Inlet, Tamboon Inlet and Lake Tyers in eastern Victoria.

In South Australia, most of the commercial catch of black bream is taken from the Coorong (Ref. 28470). The size of the Coorong catch has varied between 10 t and 70 t annually over the last 25 years. The commercial catch of black bream in Western Australia is not large, ranging between 15 t and 30 t in most years. Small amounts are landed from most of the southern and southwestern estuaries but Culham Inlet and Stokes Inlet account for most of the commercial catch.

The main commercial fishing methods used for black bream in Victoria and South Australia are gillnets and haul seines. In Western Australia almost all the commercial catch is taken with gillnets.

Black bream are sold exclusively on domestic fresh fish markets. They are normally sold as whole chilled product.

Recreational fishery: Black bream are one of the top angling species in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. They are the main target species in estuaries such as the Gippsland Lakes and Mallacoota Inlet (Ref. 28478, 28479). The recreational catch of black bream in the Gippsland Lakes and Mallacoota Inlet is approximately equal to the commercial catch from those areas (Ref. 28478, 28479).

Black bream are caught mainly with baited rod-and-line or handline. The most popular baits for black bream are prawns, bloodworms and sandworms (Nereidae), crabs, 'mulleet gut' and sandy sprat or 'whitebait' (Hyperlophus vittatus) (Ref. 28478, 28479).

The largest black bream recorded by the Australian Anglers Association up to 1993 was 3.5 kg from South Australia in 1969.

Resource status: In 1993, the black bream population in the Gippsland Lakes was probably fully exploited but nothing was known about the status of other black bream populations. Environmental and habitat changes in southern Australian estuaries as well as increased fishing effort by recreational anglers are likely to have an important influence on future population levels of this species.