Richmond River Cod - Seeking Info

[Jim_Tait]

G'day Fishers,
I've recently become involved in an environental project that seeks to identify the best demonstration river/creek reach for restoration of Eastern Cod Habitat within the Richmond River in northern NSW.
As some of you may be aware this critically endangered species was native to the Richmond and became locally extinct in the catchment over the 1930's - 1970. It was subsequently restocked in the Ricmond (from Clarence River fish) in the nineties as part of Project Big Fish. Adult fish from these stockings are now begining to show up in captures by bass anglers and other recreational fishers in the catchment (it is illegal to intentionally target or keep cod).
For my project it is really valuable to know where these cod are showing up as it is often a good indicator of habitat suitability and of places where further habitat restoration work - i.e. fixing fish passage barriers like road culverts, riparian revegetation, hole deepening etc - might be a good idea. While I have access to Fisheries data I know from talking to fellow anglers that more cod are getting caught (& released 95% of the time)than are formally reported.
Sightings of eastern cod in the Richmond should be formally reported to the New South Wales threatened species unit http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/forms/sighting.htm
However, I would also welcome direct communication via postings regarding information on general areas (tributray names will suffice) or other information regarding where cod have been observed or captured. Feel free to send a personal messages if you can / want to provide more speciific information.
Also would welcome any suggestions regarding what are thought to be good river or tributary reaches to restore as cod habitat - or any other relevant info i.e. activities of the midnight stocking brigade that may have brought Murray Cod into the system.

Best regards and tight lines - Jim Tait

[basserman]

jim are they/were they ever in the macleay river?
i know that is a very popular fishing river for bass

[Fitzy]

Hi Jim,
Long time. You're on a good cause, good luck on it. You got my support.

Righto crew, I know Jim loves his native fish & his fishing & his heart's in the right place. A bit of help for his project would be good for the Eastern Cods future.
If you want to keep some sensitive info away from public eyes/ears send Jim a PM or to myself & I'll get it to him.

Cheers,

Fitzy..

[Jim_Tait]

Yeah G'day Fitzy,
nice to catch up again. Despite some of the genetic concerns about a narrow gene pool from limited brood stock used to produce fingerlings for stocking, the eastern cod are starting to pop up increasingly in the Richmond River (see attached pic) as by-catch when chasing bass - some parts of the catchment I have even encountered cod more frequently than bass - though overall they're still very thin on the ground and we have a long way to go before we can legitimately see them as a part of the recreational fishery again - I certainly look forward to the day! Appreciate any assistance in helping to track down info.

To bassfisher - no the eastern cod were never in the Macleay as far as we know - but they were in most coastal catchments from the Clarence north to the Mary (except the Brunswick, Tweed and some of the smaller Gold Coast hinterland streams) - recent genetic work has shown the Mary Cod to be a closer cousin-brother to the Eastern Cod rather than the Murray cod - which it has previously been considered a sub species of. The biogeographic story is that Murray Cod crossed the divide - probably from the Gydir into the Clarence a few million years ago and have catchment hopped north.

Regards and tight lines - Jim.

[basserman]

ty very much for the info
i have heard of a few cods being caught in the upper macealy but no dout the murray cod but you know the tales in pubs one fish is caught a thousand time each time a diffrent size and name! ;)

[jimbamb]

Sure is a beautifull fish!! Will be great if numbers get high enough to allow c and r on a limited basis sometime down the track..

[fishy_phil]

gday fellas
id just like to say they ARE in the nambucca bellinger macley and the hawkesbury(colo) rivers (i dont know about the rivers in between) as i have been with people that have caught them in these rivers as well as myself...and has been confirmed by NSW fisheries about the population in the colo river is of EC but is very small but is self sustaining. so the story about them being in the clarence and north IS bullshit! if you would like to talk more about it id be glad to have some discussions. #ive recently caught them in the bellinger river west of bellingen so what does that say. about the cod in the hawkesbury system they are eastern cod not murray cod or trout cod as these are also in the system but have been identified as EC as well as the fish in the other rivers...by myself and numerous others including NSW fisheries that QUOTE: all cod in eastern flowing streams in NSW must be returned. so what does this suggest???? hhhmmmm
# a few thoughts to ponder over
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #phil.

[Jim_Tait]

Phil,
I'm not sure what points your trying to make (or score) by saying that Eastern Freshwater Cod (EFC) in river basins north of the Clarence is 'bullshit' ???.

I know they are in the Richmond (I catch them there myself as the above picture illustrates) and the most recent genetic work identifies Mary River cod in south estern Qld as a closer relative to EFC than Murray Cod which they were previously thought to be a subspecies of. The distribution of eastern cod to river basins to the north that I was referring to is in evolutionary time over millions of years.

I don't doubt that EFC have showed up in the river basins that you mentioned but if they are there all available evidence would point to their origins as being the irresponsible behavious of the midnight stocking brigade rather that natural processes - some thing that all conservation minded fishers should oppose >:(.

However, I appreciate the information and will confirm it with NSW fisheries perhaps they can use it to target the ileagal or lax practices (i.e. non-native dam stocking) responsible :-/.

regards and tight lines - Jim.

[fishy_phil]

i was refering to them being in the clarence and north ONLY as in total range... as bein bullshit...im not saying that them being north of the clarence is bullshit...
and about them being put there by the midnight stocking brigade would be unlikely because of the simple fact of them being in the systems for well over 40 years....so i doubt many people were transfering eastern cod from the clarence or otherwise back then...since they were only described as a differant species only recently...
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #phil

[Jim_Tait]

Thanks for clarifying that Phil,

It would be interesting to get some hard evidence of the fish from the systems you mentioned. I raised it with fisheries and they indicated that they had not confirmed the pressence of the cod other than second hand reports which they have received from the basins you mentioned.

I mentioned the midnight stocking brigade as there are consistent rumors of cod stocking (both Murray and Easterns) having occurred in some of the systems you mentioned in relatively recent times as well.

If your aware of the fish being there before that, it may turn out to be due to the activities of old timers which were known to translocate fish around in early days (i.e. recent genetic work has shown the Macquarie Perch in the upper Shoalhaven Catchment Mongalowe River - to be translocated MDB strain as opposed to the indigenous smaller sized strain lower in the catchment). I had also heard other reports of the Cod in the Colo being there for some time.

It would be interesting to get to the bottom of it so if you'd like to provide any more detailed info, PM me and I'll pass it on to fisheries.

Regards and tight lines - Jim

[Fitzy]

Jim,
Am just curious, are you getting any feedback?

Fitzy..

[goodoo]

ABOUT 8 YEARS AGO I LIVED IN PENRITH ONLY 5 MIN FROM THE BOATRAMP UNDER THE GREAT WESTERN H WAY ON 1 TRIP UP THE NEPEAN I WAS FOTUNATE ENOUGH TO LAND ACOD OF ABOUT 60CM THIS GAVE ME A REAL BUZZ AS I WAS FISHING 2kg AND HEDDON TINYTADS FOR WILD BASS THE GORGE COUNTRY IN THIS RIVER IS AGREAT HABITAT AND WITH MORE AND MORE C&R BECOMING THE NORM THE COD MIGHT JUST BE LUCKYHOW EVER AT THE TIME I THOUGHT OF IT AS AN ESCAPEE FROM SOME FARMERS PRIVATE STASH FURTHER UP STREAM AFTER READING THROUGH TONITE MAYBE I WAS WRONG GO COD : GOODOO

[Batters]

i've heard reports of large eastern freashwater cod being caugth from people sneaking into rocky creek dam, on the richmond river, fortunatly it was all catch and release, with huge bass also being caught, were cod once stocked here, maybee they are know breeding here

[Jim_Tait]

Mick,
Rocky Creek dam has been stocked, in fact it was one of the earliest stocked sites 88-89. Whether they're are breeding is agood question it is possible when you consider the quality of the habitat in the feeder streams to the dam but NSWF have not looked at that yet. Thanks for the info anyway - as you know it is illegal to fish in the dam

Regards - Jim

[Batters]

Jim,
i just saw on your biography that you went to James Cook University Townsville, what did you study, i think i might be going there next year to study either marine biology or aquaculture, its just such a long way away (I live in warwick, SE Qld), but i have heard that this is the best facility to study this stuff, if you had any information about studying at James Cook University please reply

mick

[Jim_Tait]

Mick - sent you a PM

Regards - Jim

[MikeC]

Hi I'm no expert so I'd like to know if it's easy to distinguish Eastern cod from Murray cod. Maybe you could provide some info along those lines. I wouldn't like to think any Easterns could be kept by 'mistake'. Thanks.

[Jim_Tait]

Mike,
Eastern Freshwater Cod (EFC) and Murray Cod (MC) are not that easily distinguished - even the 'experts' find it difficult. Taxanomically you can note features such as loger pelvic fin filaments in EFC, but generallythe range for almost all of the fin rays, gill raker, lateral line scales, vertebrae etc counts overlap.
The key point is that EFC & MC do not overlap in distribution unless MC have been stocked into EFC habitat or vice versa. If fishing within EFC range - best (& legal) practice is to release all cod - as you would be hard pressed to prove a cod was not an EFC if in their natural range.

Regards - Jim

[MikeC]

Thanks Jim. Interesting. [First time I read thru I missed the bit about all cod in eastern-flowing streams having to be released.]

[Fitzy]

Mike,
Eastern Freshwater Cod (EFC) and Murray Cod (MC) are not that easily distinguished - even the 'experts' find it difficult. Taxanomically you can note features such as loger pelvic fin filaments in EFC, but generallythe range for almost all of the fin rays, gill raker, lateral line scales, vertebrae etc counts overlap.
The key point is that EFC & MC do not overlap in distribution unless MC have been stocked into EFC habitat or vice versa. If fishing within EFC range - best (& legal) practice is to release all cod - as you would be hard pressed to prove a cod was not an EFC if in their natural range.

Regards - Jim


Jim with all of the work (& fishing) you've done on the various freshwater cods, do you recon you can pick the difference in them with a casual glance? I've caught bugger all ECC but I recon I can pick the MRC & the MCs. Noting I've never been in the situation where I've had the 2 side by side. Have caught both of them from Big W. There were some farm dams with MCs in them when Big W was built & they were subsequently released by lake waters. A mate caught what we thought was an MC so it was taken to be sussed out; turned out we were right.

Do you think the location & environment makes a great deal of difference in the coloration? I think so but would like your thoughts.

fitzy..

[Jim_Tait]

G'day Fitzy,
I reakon I would be hard pressed to tell a MRC and EFC appart but probably could tell a MC appart from either of the former - though people who's opinion I respect who have had a lot more experience with cod i.e. Stuart Rowland - reakon that they have seen MC that exhibit characteristics that eclipse the range of characteristics shown by either MRC or EFC.

Generally I note that EFC & MRC always have long pelvic fin filaments (which I have never seen on MC but I am told they can have them), more 'eye spot' mottling as opposed to finer grained spots on MC and a bit more of a humpy (like a barra) head profile.

Re influence of habitat on colouration I have not caught MC from a wide enough range (after all I'm basically a north queensland johny come lately to this southern country) - but note that pictures of MC I see in publications caught in the New England Gorge country look fairly different to those I used to catch in teh bidgee around Canberra - this could be genetic as well as environmental as I belive the cod populations show a bit of differentiation throughout the MDB.

Regards - Jim PS attached image of MRC will post image of similar sized MC in following post

[Jim_Tait]

Murray codfor comparison - not real flash image but note the pelvic fins - Jim