NSW

More than 400 “advanced size” juvenile mulloway have now been stocked into Sydney’s Georges River. The dedicated team at DPI’s Port Stephens Fisheries Institute marine hatchery continue to develop and refine mulloway breeding technology and have successfully released a new cohort of tagged juvenile mulloway into the river. These mulloway average just over a kilo in weight and range from …

White Spot has been detected at a prawn facility in northern NSW and confirmed by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) tests. NSW DPI has stood up an emergency response Incident Management Team. The team is working to determine the source of the outbreak and to complete surveillance activities. On 16 February 2023, …

Fisheries Officers have apprehended two men from Cohuna, Victoria, for multiple offences involving the take of Yabbies from Colligen Creek, west of Deniliquin. The men were caught in possession of 796 yabbies, 396 above the combined possession limit for two people. The excess were seized and returned to the waters of the Colligen Creek alive. In addition, it is also …

The fishing along the Clarence Coast of northern NSW has been fairly good in recent weeks, with whiting, flathead and school jewfish biting well inside the river. While offshore, the annual run of spotted mackerel is now in full swing. Offshore, excellent catches of spotties to 8kg and the occasional larger spanish mackerel are being boated from Black Rocks in …

Repeat offender jailed for stealing fish on states South Coast. Fisheries Officers from the Batemans Bay District and the State-wide Operations and Investigations Group, Regional Mobile Squad, apprehended a repeat fisheries offender on May 9, 2022, in Ulladulla. The offender faced the courts this week and was sentenced to 18 months in jail with a non-parole period of 11 months …

Fish for crabs responsibly this summer! Crab fishing is a popular activity, particularly during the warmer months in NSW. Sought after crab species such as Mud Crab and Blue Swimmer Crab can be effectively targeted using traps and nets and make for a fun time on the water and provide exceptional eating when back on land. Here are some useful …

New drone technology continues to assist Fisheries Officers in the field. Fisheries Officers from the State-wide Operations and Investigations Group have put an offender before the courts by utilising new drone technology allowing officers to capture crucial evidence that resulted in multiple offences being detected. The use of this new and evolving technology is just another modern step forward for …

As I typed the first article of 2023, I tried to remember exactly where 2022 went. For some reason, I can only recall floods, low pressure systems, gale and storm-force winds, a few more floods and further miserable weather. However, to be begrudgingly fair, we did have a couple of weeks of sunshine during that time. While the Bureau of …

During a recent patrol of the Yarrawonga Weir fishing closure, a group of passionate young recreational fishers alerted Fisheries Officers to some stranded fish. This vital information was also reported to local Fisheries Officers by the owner of the local tackle store. As a result of this vital information, a large number of native fish were successfully saved from an …

A large cobia, originally tagged by Wildside Sportsfishing Charters, was recently recaptured. This recapture was particularly exciting for the DPI tagging program because it set the record for the furthest distance travelled by a recaptured cobia since the program’s inception in 1973! There were 1405 cobia tagged and 35 reported as recaptured in the program. Angler Russell Cleaver caught the …