Fish bites: Australian fish stocks ‘stable and steady’ for most species
Australia's fish stocks almost healthy; NSW Gone Fishing Day returns; NT's fishing app that tells you when to stay homeAustralia’s annual survey of fish stocks has found its commercial fisheries are mainly healthy, although two species – john dory and eastern zone jackass morwong – are now classed as being overfished.
The findings mean that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority will reduce the allowable commercial take of both fish species next year, as well as close off some fishing grounds to commercial fishing from May next year to protect the species.
The survey showed that while stocks of six other species that were already classed as overfished – blue warehou, eastern zone gemfish, gulper sharks, orange roughy, redfish, school shark and sandfish – had improved over the last year, they still had not recovered in enough numbers to drop their overfished status.
Of concern to game fishers, striped marlin, which has been off the commercial take for the last two years, has not yet recovered from overfishing, according to records that date back to 2010.
Australia’s annual take from Commonwealth-managed fisheries was worth around $374 million last year, with around 30 per cent of the value coming from the southern and eastern Australian fisheries.
Washed-out Gone Fishing Day returns for NSW
While most of Australia celebrated October’s Gone Fishing Day, several similar events planned for NSW were postponed due to wild weather and flooding across the state, including in Sydney and Batemans Bay.
However, both regions have announced they will now hold their celebrations of all things fishing this Sunday, November 27.
The Sydney event will be staged at Cook Park in Kyeemagh from 10am until 1pm, while the Batemans Bay Gone Fishing Day will be held on the northern side of the Clyde River bridge at Korner’s Park from 10am until 1pm.
However, while coastal areas are now able to hold events, the NSW Department of Primary Industries says water levels at inland rivers and impoundments are still too unpredictable, meaning activities planned for Lake Keepit in north-eastern NSW and Lake Forbes in central NSW are yet to lock in a date.
NT fishing app tells you when to stay home
The NT Government has launched a new fishing app that can advise fishers of the best days to hit the water, and the ones to stay at home.
The NT Fishing and Boating Mate app advises users of the best bite times using data including solunar theory and how the position of the sun, moon and stage of the tides affect fish feeding behaviour to help make the early start at the boat ramp better.
However, the app’s predictions are not an exact science, just a theory, so it still needs a bit of real-world judgement from its users, with no guarantee of donut days.
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