Strict bans limiting commercial and recreational fishing in Perth and parts of Western Australia have been announced, in an effort to save some under-threat fish species from the brink of collapse.

At up to 1.8 metres in length and weighing more than 50 kilograms, the Murray cod is the apex predator of Australia's inland waterways. An adult "pondi" (its Ngarrindjeri name) cruises the country's ...