From the Department of Primary Industries

Friday, 9 November 2007

FISHING LICENCE FEES AT WORK TRACKING DUSKY FLATHEAD

New research in the Gippsland Lakes is providing greater insight into the movement patterns of the estuary’s dusky flathead population and will contribute to the sustainable management of the species, acting Executive Director of Fisheries Victoria, Jon Presser, said today.

Mr Presser said scientific findings from the acoustic tracking project would help both anglers and fishery managers better understand the distribution and movement of dusky flathead in the estuary under various habitat and environment conditions, and could be used to underpin management decisions about the species.

In 2006 the Nicholson Angling Club received an $86,000 grant from the Recreational Fishing Licence Trust Account to tag and track dusky flathead over two years and has been working in partnership with Dr Jeremy Hindell, a senior estuarine ecologist with the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Between December 2006 and May of this year, 35 dusky flathead were caught and implanted with acoustic transmitters. Fish were gathered throughout the Gippsland Lakes system from Fraser Island, near the entrance in the east, to Hollands Landing in the west.

The smallest measured 33 cm and weighed 320 grams while the biggest was 68 cm and 2.1 kg. The fish have since been tracked with the help of 40 ‘listening stations,’ which recorded any acoustically tagged fish swimming by.

“Our research to date reveals that 80 per cent of the flathead have travelled no more than 10 km from the point at which they were tagged and released,” Dr Hindell said.

“A few flathead have been a little more adventurous, with the most travelled flathead, a 38cm specimen originally captured by a Nicholson Angling Club member for tagging, moving significant distances in short periods of time.

“This fish was tagged and released at the mouth of the Tambo River and in January 2007 swam from there to Metung in just two hours, a distance of around 10 km.

“It stayed there until early May, at which time it swam back to the mouth of the Tambo River over five days, then upstream to Johnsonville.

“In late May it returned to the mouth of the Tambo briefly before swimming to Metung again via Jones Bay in the northern part of Lake King.

These acoustically tagged dusky flathead carry an external yellow streamer tag so they can be identified. They join more than 1,000 other flathead in the Gippsland Lakes that have been streamer tagged by VicTag volunteers.

“Fisheries scientists expect to see flathead movements escalate over the warmer months so anglers should be on the look out for tagged fish, taking note of the numbers on the tag and ringing the phone number to report the details,” Dr Hindell said.

For further information about this project visit www.dpi.vic.gov.au/vro/fishtrack, or to learn more about other projects being funded by your fishing licence fees visit www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fishing/feesatwork.