Fisheries Victoria Fish-e-Fax

'A fortnightly round-up of recreational fishery management issues'

Fish-e-Fax Issue 219, 24 April 2008

Your fishing licence fees at work reveal Murray cod secrets
Stream classification to be trailed in the North East
Fishy Fact – King George Whiting

Your fishing licence fees at work reveal Murray cod secrets Freshwater anglers have been helping fisheries researchers with a three-year study which aims to learn more about Murray cod catches and fishing techniques. Researchers interviewed over 700 recreational anglers during the 2006-07 Murray cod season, collecting statistics on catch, effort and fishing practices in sections of the Murray, Ovens and lower Goulburn Rivers. It was estimated that over 1 million hours of fishing effort had yielded a catch of 83,861 Murray cod, of which 75,922 or 90 per cent were released. This information, along with experimental data on post-release survival of Murray cod, will help estimate how many released cod survive and what factors contribute to their survival. “We recorded the hook sizes anglers were using, the number of lines being fished, the location of hooks in captured cod and the landing method,” said Paul Brown, Senior Science Officer at the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Snobs Creek Centre.

The vast majority of cod, were shallow hooked in the mouth, lip or jaw, or externally. Only a few were hooked deep in the mouth. Anglers reported no observed injuries, other than the hook wound itself, for 90 per cent of all cod caught.

Mr Brown said that lures accounted for 16 per cent of cod caught with the remainder taken on bait. Bait fishers used a range of single hooks from a small size 6 up to a large 7/0, however most cod were caught on single hooks between 2/0 and 4/0.

Of the Murray River anglers 67 per cent fished mainly from a boat as opposed to the shore. This was high when compared to 32 per cent in the Goulburn River and 29 per cent in the Ovens River.

Covering a reach of 750 km, researchers were interested to find that while Murray cod were being caught at between 2 to 21 fish per hectare, anglers were experiencing lower catch rates for carp of between 0.5 and 9 fish per hectare.

Since December 2007 surveys have continued along the Murray River downstream of Torrumbarry weir to the South Australian border, and the Loddon River west of Bendigo.

This project received $111,500 from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Account and contributions from Fisheries Victoria and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

For more information about ‘Your Licence Fees at Work’ visit www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fishing/feesatwork or ring the DPI Customer Service Centre on 136 186.

Stream classification to be trailed in the North East

Public feedback will be sought on a draft stream classification model that will be trialled in the North East by Fisheries Victoria, with four public meetings planned for May.

The draft stream and river classification model will identify waterways as salmonid, mixed or native fisheries and aims to provide transparency and direction for the future management of Victoria’s inland fisheries. It has been developed by Fisheries Victoria in conjunction with Victoria’s Recreational Fishing peak body (VRFish) and members of the recreational fishing community.

The draft stream classification model will also help with the promotion of individual inland waters to ensure regional Victoria can continue to benefit from the tourism dollars injected into the local economy by recreational fishing activities.

The development of the model follows a 2006 State Government election commitment, which was in response to calls from the public and recreational fishing groups.

The stream classification model will be initially applied to five major rivers in the North East as part of the trial. These rivers, the Kiewa, Mitta Mitta, King, Ovens and Buffalo Rivers are largely defined by the natural range of where species will survive under current environmental conditions

Four public consultation meetings are scheduled for the North East and Melbourne in May, to brief recreational fishermen and get feedback on the draft model and its preliminary classification.

The final model will be completed by mid 2009 and applied across the state by a taskforce appointed by Fisheries Victoria and VRFish.

The State Government committed $13.5 million to recreational fishing at the last election. Included in this are projects such as the stream classification and increasing fish stocking of inland waters by 30 per cent over four years.

These activities will ensure Victoria has a thriving recreational fishing resource which can be enjoyed by current and future generations.

The dates for the stream classification public meetings are:

Town	Date	Time
Bright	Wednesday May 7	7 pm to 9 pm
Wodonga	Thursday May 8	7 pm to 9 pm
Corryong	Wednesday May 21	7 pm to 9 pm
Melbourne	Thursday May 29	7 pm to 9 pm

For further information on the meetings or to reserve a place for the public meetings, please contact Alison Gibson (alison@vrfish.com.au or 03 9686 7077).

Fishy Fact – King George Whiting

King George Whiting are a popular recreational fishing species found along the Victorian coastline, and are renowned for their eating qualities. In Victoria they have legal minimum size limit of 27 cm and a bag/possession limit of 20.

Did you know? The Australian record for King George Whiting is 2.3 kg but they can grow to almost 5 kg!