First ever barra fishery in Victoria!

In a fantastic fishing first, barramundi have been stocked in Victoria, with the first batch of 1600 fish from various year classes released into the warm waters of Hazelwood Pondage in the Gippsland today (Wednesday April 20).

After legislating to remove netting in Port Phillip Bay, the Andrews Labor Government is now advancing its Target One Million plan to grow recreational fishing in the state with some innovative fishing projects.

"This is a big step forward to developing Victoria’s first barramundi fishery for recreational anglers – and also a key milestone in our Target One Million plan to increase recreational fishing," Minister for Agriculture Jaala Pulford said.

The historic barra stocking in Vic follows successful tank-based acclimatisation trials that indicated the species could survive in the warm pondage water which is a by-product of the Hazelwood Power Station.

Ordinarily, barramundi are usually found in northern Australia or on dinner plates, however, the unusually warm water in the pondage may provide Victorian anglers with the chance to cast a line for the iconic species much closer to home.

"Anglers from all over Victoria and interstate have been waiting a long time for barramundi to go into the Hazelwood Pondage — this is a massive boost for fishing and for the Latrobe Valley," said the Member for Eastern Victoria, Harriet Shing

Three size classes of barramundi were released, consisting of 1000 fingerlings at 5cm, 500 fish at 10cm and 100 larger barramundi measuring 30cm.

Fifteen of the larger fish carry acoustic tags to track their movements so more can be learned about their behaviour and preferred habitats.

Several listening stations have been positioned throughout the pondage and will monitor tagged fish movements and log water temperatures.

To optimise the stocking trial and fish movement investigation, the pondage will be closed to all recreational fishing for six months.

This will allow barramundi growth rates, diet composition, flesh quality and aggregation patterns to be studied without active fishing pressure.

Fisheries Victoria, recreational anglers and other project partner organisations that comprise the Barramundi Working Group will then consider the results of the stocking trial and, pending the results, progress plans to formally open the fishery in consultation with other recreational users.

Boosting participation in recreational fishing is the primary aim of the Labor Government’s Target One Million plan, which aims to increase angler numbers to one million by 2020 and get more people fishing, more often.

We have to say there have been some great rec-fishing initiatives in 2016 in Victoria, which is certainly one of the more pro-active recreational fisheries states.

VR Fish found recreational fishing contributes a staggering $7.1 billion to the Victorian economy with 838,000 Victorians going fishing each year. More on Vic rec fishing at www.vrfish.com.au.