Page 86 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

new management plans for stocking groups.
Several stocking groups took up the task, work- ing quite hard to adhere to the strict guidelines set out by DAF.
will to “waste time sit- ting at the ramp when nobody is coming in.”
freely shared by anglers while on the water, the data going straight to the stocking group – problem solved.
cover the percentage of fish taken or released in your fishery.
What quietly went un- der many groups’ so- nar was the switch of monitoring requirement from DAF to the stock- ing groups.
These guidelines were soon discovered to be mostly unworkable or not suited to the nature of freshwater fishing.
The numbers quick- ly dropped off, to the point where the pro- gram was all but dead in the water – pardon the pun.
Once the appropri- ate software was pur- chased, upgraded and tested, it was found that there were no limita- tions on the number of different forms that could be created.
•Tourists or locals – learn where the anglers are coming from to fish at your waterway.
As if to go hand-in- hand with this change in management plans, in early 2020 DAF engaged with several restocking groups to
The tyranny of dis- tance being travelled by group members several days a week, together
That said, the Som- erset Wivenhoe Atkin- sons Dam group – with the assistance of Sweet- water Fishing and Aus-
•Monitor pest fish – find out if pest fish in your lake are increasing in number and size.
Images sent in via Recreational Fishing Survey App.
IUsing recreational fishing data for better fishing management
N late 2019 and into undertake boat ramp with hours spent at boat fish – came up with an average sizes of your 2020, the Depart- surveys for much need- ramps at times that were online fishing survey. fish and find out which ment of Agriculture ed data on our stocked not suited to the location, Recreational fishing species grow better.
and Fisheries rolled out fisheries. deflated a few groups’ data could be easily and • Harvest rates – dis-
The SWFSA reached out to a couple of other groups for input.
• Fingerling growth and survival – measure how well your restock- ing program is going and find out if the fish you release are surviv- ing and growing.
Natural recruitment a bonus to fishery
* from P85
to be a lack of sup-
be stocking these fish?
started to stand out as the place to fish for recreational species.
port from younger rec anglers, and we could use their help with our stocking groups.
When it first started it was done by Fish- eries Queensland, with truckloads of yellowbelly, silver perch and Murray cod arriving from NSW.
Our great hatcher- ies began to pop up around the regions, which made it more controllable when purchasing finger- lings.
Yes, we all purchase permits, but we need more input into our fishery than that.
We saw the start of the Amateur Fisher- man’s Stocking As- sociation of Queens- land.
We don’t want to lose what we have, and I ask that all the younger up and coming recreational freshwater anglers think very seriously about the future of freshwater fishing in Queensland.
Have a close look at what is taking place.
To put it bluntly, the good old recreational stocking group an- glers are getting old and dropping off the perch.
Then the Freshwa- ter Fish Stocking As- sociation of Queens- land took over the stocking format, as Queensland had
I ask the question, in 15 years who will
Page 86 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, December 2020
• Average sizes – track
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It was soon discovered that many locations needed to ask different questions to help them measure and monitor their fishery for better management – a one- size-fits-all approach simply would not work.
• Angler catch rates – over time, the survey can measure the per- formance of the fishery, and whether people are catching more or less fish.
So, it was decided to make customised sur- vey forms for the vari- ous locations.
• Community engage- ment – engage with the fishing community to help improve the fish- ery by completing a survey – in turn the da- ta allows your group to share information with the community through a website or via social media and raise aware- ness of your groups’ work with the wider
At time of writ- ing, there were over 20-stocked locations that have online sur- veys running, with more coming soon. Using recreation fishing data and the benefits