AWOONGA BARRA DEAD IN THE 1000's

[barradise]

Took a look up the Boyne River below the Awoonga dam wall and found 1000's of dead barra scattered where ever you looked.

A good number of the barra were huge females over 1 metre in length.
The barra are floating belly up with many either getting caught on the banks or floating down the river.

The big fish have also been spotted dead at the Lilly (the mouth of South Tree Inlet) and floating around Gladstone Harbour and Boyne/Tannum Sands beaches.

I would think the smell of rotting fish around the rivers will get rather strong in coming days and could pose a health risk.

Regards,

Barradise

[Benno1]

Be interesting to find out what the cause was/is...crying shame that is...all those big females dead.

Mrs Benno1
Sunny

[darylive]

Maybe washing over the bloody dam wall and getting smashed has something to do with it?

[warrior]

really dissapointing they didnt survive the drop, would have been interesting fishing down the river in feb

[owey87]

seen about 10 up at lillys today and heaps near benaraby bridge, also seen a fair few shark fins and caught 2 eels near the bridge.

also seen what appeared to be the tail of a crocodile flick away a few people seen it and someone was on the phone to croc watch, who said there has been a few sightings there of late for anyone who knows the area the creek mouth just up from under the bridge on the right hand side heading downstream is the spot it was sighted in. personally im a bit of fool who likes to write that sort of stuff off to logs etc but everyone else was very certain it was a crocodile and noticed a croc sighting sign near entry on wya out.

[Bros]

Disappointing but that is the short term result but the long term could be interesting.

I would expect the EPA to get its oar in here with some negative results and what will the GAWB end up doing with restocking with the results going over the wall.

I'm using my memory here but a similar event happened at Tinaroo many years ago and they had to truck away large numbers of dead barra. They ended up putting a net across the top to stop fish going over but I don't know weather it was successful or not.

[chris69]

hi all would the water not have enough oxygen in it from all the rain, ive read were red claw leave the water on big flood because of this, but then a lot of bass survive the over flows and water releases, what ever the cause it is a sad thing to here of there fait but hopefully a few will get to breed .

[owey87]

ive heard that about 50% are expected to survive does anyone know much about the truth of that and from what ive seen theres alot dead so alot must of got out for 50% to survive.

[Bros]

hi all would the water not have enough oxygen in it from all the rain,

I expect the water would be loaded with oxygen as the dam spillway is in two stages half way down it breaks up and it is churning in the dissipater at the bottom so the water is broken up and exposed to lots of oxygen

[Bros]

Memory not bad after all. Page 17


http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/register/p00486aa.pdf

[Wazzup01]

Saw an absolute horse under the boyne bridge yesterday afternoon as well as another beauty next to the boatramp. Also saw a few large ones scattered through the mangroves while I was taking the dog for a walk. I was hanging on to a bit of hope the other day when no dead ones had shown up but they are turning up on masse now. Not surprising though when you see what they had to contend with going over the wall.

[barradise]

This event would not be so much of a concern if we weren't at the start of a predicted abnormal wet season.

With Awoonga at 100% full and the weather guys predicting a good chance of recieving a cyclone or tropical low, what will become of the barra then when the lake is in full flood mode and the spillway is overflowing by 3-4 metres.

It's a bloody disgrace.

[barradise]

http://fsfiles.org/flightsimshots/images/876IMG_1355.jpg

[owey87]

i got a picture of a one metre or so barra on the shore rotting ill post pic up in the morning when i work out how to and a mate said he saw one that looks half eaten, out benaraby way so i might pop down tommorow when im outand about and see if i cant find it.
on the plus side but ive heard theres a few live ones of fairly big sizes been seen by people in there boats up the river

[mylestom]

Think that where ever, you have droughts and floods, you will have river flows.
Dams can only hold back so much, you will have some fish of all types not just barra (baitfish?) go over the wall, some will survive. This happens with lots of dams.

The stocking of dams is not an exact science, to rubbish the work put in to stock these dams is very short sighted.

The hatchery and staff do a great job stocking this dam and most of the people who fish it appreciate what they have, for no permit cost, a get a great facility.

Its marvellous how the comments come out to rubbish years of work when something natural occurs.

For me, congratulations to GAWB and the Hatchery staff for all the stocking up till now and the continued breeding program they have in place. A job well done.

Regards

Trev

[Awoonga]

Took a look up the Boyne River below the Awoonga dam wall and found 1000's of dead barra scattered where ever you looked.

A good number of the barra were huge females over 1 metre in length.
The barra are floating belly up with many either getting caught on the banks or floating down the river.

The big fish have also been spotted dead at the Lilly (the mouth of South Tree Inlet) and floating around Gladstone Harbour and Boyne/Tannum Sands beaches.

I would think the smell of rotting fish around the rivers will get rather strong in coming days and could pose a health risk.

Regards,

Barradise You found 1000,s. How many 1000,s. The count untill yesterday was 896 . Could you show a picture of the 1000,s ??

[Bros]

Its marvellous how the comments come out to rubbish years of work when something natural occurs.


I have never seen one negative comment rubbishing the stocking work in this thread.

[flatzie]

This event would not be so much of a concern if we weren't at the start of a predicted abnormal wet season.

With Awoonga at 100% full and the weather guys predicting a good chance of recieving a cyclone or tropical low, what will become of the barra then when the lake is in full flood mode and the spillway is overflowing by 3-4 metres.

It's a bloody disgrace.
What exactly is a disgrace? Are there really 1000's?
Its a normal thing that when dams overflow that fish kills can happen.
Dont forget these barra are in a dam and this is not a natural situation that the fish or man can contend with.
Seems like a blame game happening here. I am sorry to see it as i love these fish as well, but no good pointing the finger. I am just thankful that we get the chance to fish for them at all.
Cheers
Flatzie

[Bouttime]

It is not all doom and gloom,a mate of mine went during the week in the Boyne and yes there are dead fish all through the river but he also caught 38 barra for the day,the biggest went 116cm.It is a shame to lose all these fish but just think what it will do for the breading stock if we can keep them away from the pro"s for long enough.Every cloud has a silver lining.

[barradise]

Awoonga,

So you were on the Boyne River counting the fish going belly up.
Very interesting task.
I guess I should have counted every fish I seen dead and dying just for your reading satisfaction, ######!

It would seem there is always somebody to a bitch and think they alway's know better.

[Wazzup01]

It must be heart breaking for those guys to see these beautiful big fish dying like they are. Totally agree with your thoughts on the GAWB guys and the work they have done to make the dam what it is today.

[gav73]

Right on the money BARRADISE.

[tossie]

Awoonga,

So you were on the Boyne River counting the fish going belly up.
Very interesting task.
I guess I should have counted every fish I seen dead and dying just for your reading satisfaction, ######!

It would seem there is always somebody to a bitch and think they alway's know better.




Barradise,
I reckon it would be a fair bet that Trev(Awoonga)has been in pretty close contact with certain water board employees who are on the river and surrounds counting the dead barra. Probably the closest to the truth you will find without counting yourself, I reckon


Shaun

[NAGG]

It is not all doom and gloom,a mate of mine went during the week in the Boyne and yes there are dead fish all through the river but he also caught 38 barra for the day,the biggest went 116cm.It is a shame to lose all these fish but just think what it will do for the breading stock if we can keep them away from the pro"s for long enough.Every cloud has a silver lining.

Closed season !!!!

[gladbream]

lovin these exagerated stories........:-X again sad to see them go but what am i to do about it. we have been working overtime collecting them at certain collection points of the river.

have fun with this one, i have said enough re: the barra going over. thanx to the guys for the kind words, weather is not looking to good over the next couple of days.

cheers

[barradise]

What ever!


lovin these exagerated stories


we have been working overtime collecting them at certain collection points of the river.

I can pretty much say that Trev didn't see what I seen but for the sake of visitors coming to fish Awoonga and too spend there holiday buck in the region, I will go along with Trev's kind report.

[gladbream]

i was up there the day before and day that this this was posted. there wasnt thousands (thousands is an exageration). i have kept probably the closest eye these fish than anyone since the spill, and i can tell everyone there was not thousands.

[owey87]

i was up there the day before and day that this this was posted. there wasnt thousands (thousands is an exageration). i have kept probably the closest eye these fish than anyone since the spill, and i can tell everyone there was not thousands.


did you see this half eaten one that people talking bout or all more storys?

id believe there would be hundreds around , seen lots up lillys today and one of the south trees bridge near tannum footy fields

[Lovey80]

Closed season !!!!

Does that mean you can't flick a lure around the river? As long as all are released then all is good right?

The fact that they are in feeding mode must be a good sign for those that are still alive I assume? Any experts to confirm that?

[barradise]

OOOOP's must of missed those at one of the collection points????

Now I don't know how this thread turned from a basic editorial into a "you said, I said" thread and it really doesn't matter. The fact remains that many people have seen the dead barra in the Boyne River and adjacent water ways and that speaks for it self on a local level.

The weather guy's are predicting heavy rainfall again this coming week and if we should happen to be unlucky and recieve the predicted 100-300mm rain fall in the catchment, then this thread will be of little significants any way.

[barradise]

Lovely80,

It is an offense to target Barramundi other than in a stipulated impoundment during the East Coast Breeding Closure. You may flick your lures around for any other tidal species other than Barramundi. Should you accidentally catch a barra, it must not be removed from the water and must be immediately released, so that means DON"T lift it out of the water for a quick photo with it.

[gladbream]

barradise
not here to argue anny points of what people have seen or have a dig at anyone, but there is hundreds down there and washed out into the harbour. everything in our own power has been done and will conitinue while ever they go over. fish will continue to go in to replenish awoonga's stocks throughout the season.

cheers

[NAGG]

Does that mean you can't flick a lure around the river? As long as all are released then all is good right?

The fact that they are in feeding mode must be a good sign for those that are still alive I assume? Any experts to confirm that?

The arguement will always be if they are "Targeted" - Hard to prove , if not impossible in a multi species system. The law may see it as - If you caught barra one after another it could be deemed that you were targeting them (expected to change tactics , move location or cease fishing ...... dunno!
From what I understand the fish must be immediately released - not removed from the water.
If you look at the footage of barra going over - If a fish went down head first and avoided the concrete blocks at the bottom .... those fish just would have got the ride of their life
So - feeding fish would be a good sign :)

Chris

[Bouttime]

Closed season !!!!
Nagg, mates were fishing for jacks,these fish were the result of bi-catch.All fish were released as everybody knows it is closed season;D .It is just good to see that despite all the doom reports most people are reporting there is a positive outcome as well.I believe there are many more barra going over the wall that live than the ones we see floating belly up.

[aussiebasser]

Does that mean you can't flick a lure around the river? As long as all are released then all is good right?

The fact that they are in feeding mode must be a good sign for those that are still alive I assume? Any experts to confirm that?

Closed season means that it is illegal to target Barramundi in the river, whether you intend to release them or not. This is to protect the breeding population of fish in the river.

[ffejsmada]

This event would not be so much of a concern if we weren't at the start of a predicted abnormal wet season.

With Awoonga at 100% full and the weather guys predicting a good chance of recieving a cyclone or tropical low, what will become of the barra then when the lake is in full flood mode and the spillway is overflowing by 3-4 metres.

It's a bloody disgrace.


Just exactly what is a bloody disgrace?

What do you mean by that barradise?

Is the weather a bloody disgrace?

Nature taking it's course a bloody disgrace?

What do you mean?

[PinHead]

do barra breed in impoundments???

[robersl]

do barra breed in impoundments???

No Pinhead they need to get back to the salt ect to breed;)

[Tropicaltrout]

Yeah a real bugger that these fish are being lost to the un relenting rain that has been dropped over the catchment, the many hours of hard work that GAWB has put into making Awoonga the fantastic fishery it is must be heart breaking but in that Awoonga was a educated fishery and this may give the fishery a new lease of life....

As for the dead fish well yep its Nature of impoundments and yep dead ones will occur, I dobt there are thousands and after reading the posts from Kurt and Trev I am sure it's not. The dead ones will move into the food chain of the river fish and crabs etc and the live ones will make thousands of new born barra for the systems in and around it and that's is a good thing for all anglers in the future....

[Wazzup01]

No one has commented on the well overdue flush that The boyne river is getting. All going well the future looks bright for the boyne.
Gladbream, do you guys have any ideas on survival rates from what you have seen?

[owey87]

ive heard rumours waz of the count being around 850 to 1000 found dead and in the thousands that have gone over,
in the video link below it shows a barra just laying upside down ahKING AT ABOUT 2:16 WHAT WOULD CAUSE THAT?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97uVIsWms4g

[owey87]

seen these pics aswell thought id share pretty amazing stuff
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc184/owey87/ATT00010.jpg


http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc184/owey87/ATT00004.jpg

[poddy mullet]

Well we are off to awonga in a week or so... What do you think the fishing will be like? Personally, all weather,fish kill, overflow issues aside, I think the fishing will be what we make of it!

[mines bigger]

i think it will be very wet going by the forecast, there is still water flowing over the spillway as of today, and the boyne river is pumping if there is any more rain i think the fishing will shut right down...
on another note i was down at the boyne river about half an hour ago just past the highway bridge and there was 20-30 barra on the banks plus a few floating around in the eddies, the one i measured was 110cm with a few bigger ones still floating around..

[hooknose]

Thanks for the informative post barradise, as for "closed season" I am one of those people who live in these parts(CQ in general) and loves fishing ,ie, heading down to the creek with half a dozen lures for a few throws to see whats around !!
Taking into account the number of dry years we have have had recently, most fisho's are keen for action.
Barra are at there best this time of year and are a welcome bycatch (hundreds have been caught and released in the lagoons etc around rocky in the past 6 weeks or so) along with top sport on tarpon etc, as far as I,m concerned if you arent out there having a few casts you arent alive !!

[Lovey80]

Before a 3rd person reminds me that Barra are not to be targeted in closed season I am aware of it.

Cheers

[barradise]

Thanks for the informative post barradise, as for "closed season" I am one of those people who live in these parts(CQ in general) and loves fishing ,ie, heading down to the creek with half a dozen lures for a few throws to see whats around !!
Taking into account the number of dry years we have have had recently, most fisho's are keen for action.
Barra are at there best this time of year and are a welcome bycatch (hundreds have been caught and released in the lagoons etc around rocky in the past 6 weeks or so) along with top sport on tarpon etc, as far as I,m concerned if you arent out there having a few casts you arent alive

Hey Hooknose,
Not for me to judge and nor shell I.


Just exactly what is a bloody disgrace? What do you mean by that barradise? Is the weather a bloody disgrace? Nature taking it's course a bloody disgrace? What do you mean?

Ahoy ffejsmada,
Make what ever you like from it, I'm sure you or somebody else is going too any way.

For me, I'm over it, arn't you???

[rumy1]

I have looked at Boyne River and the dam every day, I would say there would have to be 1000's dead. Pikes Crossing really needed a flush out so I see this as doing good for the river.

[Bros]

Had two report form people I know who live on boats, one in the Marina and one in the Boyne.

They told me of big barra chasing bait fish in the marine and Boyne some up to a meter long. So some must have made it and now they have to work a bit harder for a feed.

So sharpen the hooks as you have 15 days before you can put one in the pot. I wonder how long it takes to get rid of the crappy impoundment taste.

[Awoonga]

Had two report form people I know who live on boats, one in the Marina and one in the Boyne.

They told me of big barra chasing bait fish in the marine and Boyne some up to a meter long. So some must have made it and now they have to work a bit harder for a feed.

So sharpen the hooks as you have 15 days before you can put one in the pot. I wonder how long it takes to get rid of the crappy impoundment taste..... As long as you are NOT a pro... The Boyne is closed untill 30th Aprill http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/documents/Fisheries_PolicyAndLegislation/FCW-081.pdf

[Lovey80]

Awoonga,

Why is the river closed until April 30? and why are Pro's exempt from this?

[Luc]

The closure applies only to Pro's.

As to why ??

Luc

[Lovey80]

So which is it? why would one be allowed and not the other? Is nettig of fish allowed in that river?

[Steve B]

Trev,.

Not 100% familiar with area. does this include gladstone habour?? And why is this closure on boyne to 30 april??? is it new, or has it always been in place??


http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/28_3030.htm

Cheers Steve

[lee8sec]

"this closure applies to all commercial fishing nets" From the link supplied.Leigh

http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/documents/Fisheries_PolicyAndLegislation/FCW-081.pdf

[Wazzup01]

You don;t seeany pros in the river. I suppose that will change this year

[oldboot]

Instead of looking at this from a typicaly human point of view.

Think about it from the Barras point of view.

Think about this poor barra, been locked up in a lake for who knows how long, sexually frustrated......then the big rains come and the natural urges peak.....that Barra will do anything to make off down stream and make babies.

And what about that ride......if ya don't get smashed on the way down what a rush.

All those barra are probaly bigger, older and healtier than thy would have grown to in the wild.....how many hundreds of fingerlings will come from each barra that sirvives...........so even if 25% survive to spawn...... the barra win

I recon there are a lot of very happy barra arround now.

As for what kills them......probaly a number of things.
Getting smacked on the rocks below will do it every time...... some might die from the temperature change........perhaps some swim down stream too fast and don't cope with the rapid change to salt water......some might get a gills full of silt.....some might just be exhausted.

I hear that some barra survive the drop over the wall up the Burdican..and that is a much bigger drop with a lot more water.

Yeh it probaly looks a bit uggly to us, but I recon nature has it all in its stride......and smaller fish will come on the replace the larger ones that have gone over the wall.

There are two young barra......"George, have you seen big Mary"....." na mate, she and Uggy Jean, went over the wall last friday"......"great they've been nothin but trouble since they made the change, all that frustration".........."hey we might get a crack at that bunch of redclaw they kept under that log up in bay 6"..............." Fred, ya not thinking about makin the change are ya???"

All good for the Barra.

cheers

[Awoonga]

Yes l agree the Barra in the most part win. What about the human factor ? Monduran, Faust ,Awoonga and other Impoundment’s have all lost fish to some degree. So what about the people that derive some if not all there income from these fisheries? Let’s look at a snapshot of a fishing trip to one of these places. First you have to get there Fuel, Then somewhere to stay. You have to eat ? Tackle? Some use Guides, Houseboats etc. ect Cost ? Lots of dollars. Don’t get me wrong they didn’t all leave via the backdoor. But a percentage did… I talked to one of the guys of the Lake Tinaroo stocking group There area revolves around the tourist dollar. As he said ,they come to catch the fish not look at the scenery…. So they got funding to purchase a net that stops the fish from leaving via the back door. The cost in today’s money terms? About $ 800,000 not cheap….But how many tourist dollars have these places lost? Now this maybe only a short term thing . Someone said… Short term pain…. But what if now these dams are full they overflow every year….. is that long term pain ?

[oldboot]

Any system subject to nature will be swings and roundabouts.

So....... the dam flows over the spillyway and some fish are lost.....I am sure there will be plenty more still left behind.

I don't here any complaints about the hot fishing on the main ponds near the walls where are the fish are waiting prior to it going over the spilway......didn't we have a world record barra caught recently.

As far as the downturn in the fishing & tourist numbers.... perhaps there are bigger reasons why they are not comming, like more than half the state underwater.
The big bull at rocky was up to its nuts in water for nearly a fortnight.

All tourism will be on a down turn for months

Yeh there might be lots of $$$ not comming in, but lots of people and business are in a far worse situation at the moment.

As far as the dams now being full, an probale to go over the spillway regularly in the future...... well hell yeh, very likely..... I doubt that we have seen the last of the current wet... not by a long way.

But with regular inflows, perhaps the fish will be a bit more active, rather than being in drought mode and expending as little energy as possible.

I'm no barra expert, but I recon these dams should fire up after things settle down a bit.

Think about the blokes who make a living out of the SEQ dams......most of those are have been or are closed to all recreational activities.

Wyvenhoe has been running 5 flood gates.....I wonder how many bass have been washed out into the bay.

cheers

[Horse]

Does anybody know much about the genetic diversity of the Barra being inroduced into the natural pool of fish in this area? Will this have any impact on the natural fish populations?
I haven't had the pleasure of fishing for the pond Barra but I would imagine the influx of several thousand big fish could make a pretty exciting river fishery in the future. Maybe its time to close these areas downstream of the stocked dams to commercial fishos who target Barra or perhaps a line from Rocky down where they are a non commercial species

[mylestom]

Does anybody know much about the genetic diversity of the Barra being inroduced into the natural pool of fish in this area? Will this have any impact on the natural fish populations?
I haven't had the pleasure of fishing for the pond Barra but I would imagine the influx of several thousand big fish could make a pretty exciting river fishery in the future. Maybe its time to close these areas downstream of the stocked dams to commercial fishos who target Barra or perhaps a line from Rocky down where they are a non commercial species

These barra have been breed from wild caught fish in the Hatchery.

It is not that much different from the Top End, some of these fish will survive and go onto breed. Hundreds of thousands of fingerlings have been put into these impoundments recently and on a percentage basis the lost fish would be flat out make a percent or two of the total available.

Regards

Trev