Barra fishing in Victoria to open in world first

Fisheries Victoria has announced that the State's imminent new recreational barramundi fishery at Hazelwood Pondage will open on December 2, 2016. There are 5000 stocked barramundi in the warm lake and they are growing at a ferocious rate, with 6kg specimens sampled already.

Arrangements for the impending barra fishery, just two hours drive east of the CBD in the Latrobe Valley, are being discussed with fisheries managers and local recreational fishing groups.

It is not yet known if the fish are safe to eat, and we hear research is underway to help answer this question, but most feedback supports a catch-and-release fishery. That makes perfect sense.

Certainly, sporting anglers are poised to pounce and social media is abuzz following news that the stocked barra in the 22C-plus warm water of Hazelwood Power Station's cooling pond are thriving.

The rapid growth rates of the fish were revealed following a survey that captured 20 stocked barra' including a whopping great specimen weighing more than 6kg.

It's believed this 6kg-plus barra was from an initial stocking of 33cm-long fish (about a year-old) released in September 2015. In less than a year in the warm-water hydro pond, the fish grew to 80-81cm or more than double its length.

Hazelwood Pondage is clearly an unique fishery in the making. Fisheries Victoria says its initial management plans will include:
>> Open the Hazelwood fishery on December 2, 2016. This will allow time for the boat ramp to be extended, the car park to be upgraded, a new overflow car park to be constructed and new signage to be installed to clarify where land and boat-based fishers can fish. It will also enable the 5000 stocked barra to grow bigger.
>> Introduce a daily bag limit of zero barramundi, making the fishery catch-and-release only. A risk assessment will be conducted in the meantime to determine whether barramundi in Hazelwood Pondage meet food safety standards.
>> Cap the number of boats (powered and unpowered) that can fish to a maximum of 25 per day. This will match new car park capacity and ensure a quality fishing experience on the water. There are no plans to limit the number of land-based anglers.
>> Hold a free ‘barra ballot’ for anglers with boats to register their interest in 1-2 day periods when they’d like to fish.

VR Fish, the state's rec angling body, is right behind the new barra fishery. With it makes the point that with rapid growth rates like nowhere else, the ability to stock thousands of more fish, plus the ability to limit fishers to conservative levels, there needs to be strong consideration of a bag limit or boat limit of one, plus a slot limit. That's if the fish are safe to eat. Catch and release makes more sense here surely.

Fisheries Victoria Executive Director, Travis Dowling, said that the exceptional growth was very exciting news for freshwater anglers hoping to chase a barramundi in Victoria.

"Stocking barramundi into Hazelwood Pondage was one of several State Government commitments in its Target One Million plan for recreational fishing, which aims to get more people fishing, more often and grow participation to one million anglers by 2020," Mr Dowling said.

For background, read our previous report on this, the stocking of the first ever barra fishery in Victoria.
This previous article gave an update on the barra fish sizes and sampling in Hazelwood Pondage.
Further informaton at
vic.gov.au/fisheries.

Photo Credit: The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources helped source the government agency photos accompanying this article.