Prepare for bumper snapper seasons

On the vast but fertile waters of Port Phillip Bay on Melbourne's busy doorstep, more than 70 volunteer angler diarists have been quietly measuring in excess of 6000 snapper to help monitor the health of the famous recreational fishery.

The snapper-monitoring program has been running in earnest for the past five years, resulting in a rich source of data for fisheries managers and scientists to better understand what's happening with fish stocks.

Despite snapper being a popular catch and attracting scores of anglers to Melbourne's much-loved bay, especially when the snapper season kicks off around November each year, the science is encouraging.

The diarists' 2015 catch information indicates an "abundant pulse" of 20-30cm snapper entering the adult fishery in the next five years.

These small snapper are two two to three years old and represent the most significant pulse of snapper seen in the last 10 years, reports the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources.

This is terrific news for recreational anglers, made all the better given the 33 netting licences that exited the bay fishery in April 2016 as part of the Target One Million angling initiative.

These 33 netters caught 87 per cent of the commercial catch of fish targeted by recreational anglers including snapper.

The contribution by angler diarists in tracking undersize year-classes of snapper fills an important knowledge gap and helps scientists forecast future snapper catch rates in the fishery.

The angler diary program is funded by recreational fishing licence fees and is a great example of volunteer anglers giving back to the management of their fishery.

Meantime, this kind of good fishing news should help offset the changes and slight price increase effective July 1 of the Victorian Fishing Licence.