Fish Tagging Research!

[poddy mullet]

The NSW Department of Primary Industries is currently undertaking research involving freshwater fish movements in many waterways throughout NSW, including the Macquarie River. Anglers are urged to check all fish that they catch for a tag or microchip to assist with research that is vital to our fishery’s future.
NSW anglers who catch a tagged fish in their region are asked to freecall 1800 185 027 to report the date of the catch, tag number, place of catch, length and species of fish.
Anglers will be posted the details of the original tagging location and rewarded with a 75 millimetre ‘Oar-Gee’ plow lure, which is a Murray Cod specialist.
Species to be tagged include native fish such as Murray cod, Silver Perch, Golden Perch, Australian Bass, Catfish, Mullet and Bony Bream, and introduced fish such as Carp, Goldfish and Red-fin.
The participation of anglers has greatly contributed to the success of a study on the migration patterns of fish along the Murray-Darling River system, and it is hoped that anglers will keep up the good work. NSW DPI researchers have found that the study of tagged fish and the reporting of anglers along the Murray-Darling River system has proved to be very valuable.
Fish tagging is providing vital information on the movement patterns of native fish, which will help manage their populations. It will also provide important biological information on introduced species, which can be used to develop better methods for their control.
Freshwater Fish Ecologists with the NSW DPI , together with their counterparts from the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment and the South Australian Research and Development Institute, have tagged fish along many of the major rivers within the Murray Darling Basin with microchip tags similar to those used to tag pets.
Automated tracking stations that record the movement of fish through fish-ways are being progressively installed along the Murray River, and unlike previous tagging studies that relied on recapturing the fish, the tracking stations automatically record the location of the fish as they swim through the fish-way. Fish have also been externally tagged with yellow tags that can be easily recognised by anglers. Contact details to report the re-capture of tagged fish are printed on each tag.
During peak fishing periods, scientists have been receiving more than 100 tag returns in a week. Receiving so many responses can slow down the processing of tag replies, but anglers can rest assured that all reported captures will receive a response.
Since the tagging of fish began in 2001 more than 10,000 fish have been tagged and released into the main channel of the Murray and Murrumbidgee Rivers. A further 500 fish have been tagged in the Shoalhaven catchment. This large scale tagging of fish will be ongoing at numerous rivers within NSW for a number of years. Anglers who clean their catch may also find a microchip in the shoulder of these species. Each microchip contains a unique number and fish can be identified if anglers are able to return the tag. Initial results showed that some fish have moved more than 500 kilometres along the Murray River in as little as three months and as far as 1700 kilometres over two years.

[FNQCairns]

Good thing and good research, the bright green conservation machine has most of its mechanics pointed toward kitchiness of marine environs, this is good science and should as a result give good and ideology free outcomes/conclusions, good on them!

cheers fnq