Fish tracking for healthy bream

Scientists from the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning's (DELWP) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) are working with local recreational fishers on a new project to preserve bream populations in West Gippsland rivers.

DELWP Principal Research Scientist Jarod Lyon said: "The bream are being caught, tagged, released and tracked to discover how they will respond to environmental water releases in lower Latrobe River."

"Local anglers have been working with researchers to capture large bream for tagging," Mr Lyon said.

"The bream are surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters, or tags. Each tag transmits a unique signal, so we can identify individual fish as they swim past receivers strategically located in Gippsland rivers."

"These transmissions provide important information on the fish's preferred location and depth which enables scientists to determine if the water is suitable to sustain healthy fish populations.

"The anglers involved have individually named the bream they caught and released, which allows the individual fish to be identified and tracked for movement over time as they pass a receiver."

Local angler and President of the Sale Fly Fishing Club, Peter Murray said he's excited to be part of the project.

"As a person who has loved fishing Gippsland rivers for many years, it's great to be able to contribute to a project that will boost and sustain bream populations for generations to come."

Jarod Lyon said: "Environmental water releases have been planned by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (CMA) into the Latrobe, Thomson and Macalister rivers in the coming months. The delivery of the environmental flows is contingent on conditions at the time.

"Bream in the Gippsland lake system regularly move into rivers like the Latrobe to spawn and we believe that their eggs and larvae drift to seagrass habitats where young fish are protected from predators," Mr Lyon said.

"The tracking project will allow us to measure the effects the environmental water releases have on the bream's breeding cycles which will help to determine strategies to bolster bream stocks."

This research is funded by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH) and the West Gippsland CMA. The VEWH prioritises environmental water releases into the Latrobe, Thomson and Macalister rivers as part of its Seasonal Watering Plan 2014-15, which aims to improve river and wetland health across the State.

For further information or to get involved, please contact Jarod Lyon by calling the DELWP Customer Service centre on 136 186.