Sweetwater:
With the Australian Bass closed season fast approaching, I again ponder the value of having a closed season in waters where these fish are stocked, particularly in regard to waters upstream of barriers.
Why have a closed season? Qutoe from Qld Fisheries website below covers it....
--- Quote ---Why do we have closed seasons? Closed seasons (regulated waters) prevent people from fishing at certain times of the year to protect species at vulnerable times in their life cycle, such as during spawning seasons.
Australian bass A closed season applies to Australian bass throughout Queensland from 1 June to 31 August. See also the section on freshwater closed seasons (Australian bass) for information on taking bass from some fresh water during the closure.
--- End quote ---
Do we want stocked bass to spawn? With virtually no genetic monitoring of hatchery bred bass, the risk of inbreeding is quite real. So the answer has to be a big NO. If we take the Brisbane River as an example, Australian Bass were in massive decline and almost gone from this system prior to restocking starting in the late 80s.
The causes are probably varied but I'll point a big finger at the weirs at Mt Crosby preventing migration both up & downstream breaking the bass' life cycle.
It would be fair to say that the vast majority of bass caught downstream of Mt Crosby Weir are hatchery bred & equally fair to say that 100% of the bass above Mt Crosby are also hatchery bred as bass cannot get upstream over the barrier.
Qld Fisheries recognise that the barriers caused by dams warrants the removal of the closed season as the bass are hatchery bred AND that the bass stocked are payed for by the general public or by Govt to provide a recreation fishery, hence the exemption of dams from the closed season. Bass in Qld are not, and to the best of my knowlege have never been stocked for conservation or as a recovery program.
So again I ask; why have a closed season on Australian bass that are hatchery bred?
* Unknown genetics of stocked bass * Proven that bass readily go downstream of dams/barriers in floods & even move into other river systems * bass are stocked for recreational fishing, not conservation - using money for rec fishing
Why have public mones used to stock fish when the fish is "out of bounds" for 25% of the year? Why is there a difference between a dam & a weir that doesn't have a suitable fishway?
I recon the closed season needs an urgent review. IMHO stocked bass are a real threat to our wild stocks & in a perfect world they wouldn't go AWOL over dams/weirs, but they do.
So what do you think?
Note* You need to vite to see the results of the poll
Bracey:
I think the horse has already bolted in regards to trying to save the Bass's pure genetics. No point in shutting the gate now. Keep the regulations as they are would be my first thoughts, unless someone can give a really good reason to change my mind.
It would be too difficult to police and too difficult to be mindful where and when to fish if the rules and regulations were scattered.
Cheers Dave
aussiebasser:
I can't see how it would be too difficult to police. With the absolutely pitiful number of Fisheries Inspectors now there would be no bloody difference. I've fished the Brisbane River for more years than most, and I've never seen an inspector. I think I saw one once on Somerset. What difficulty would there be in changing the line from the wall at Lake Wivenhoe, to the Weir at Mt. Crosby. On a larger scale, why not protect all Bass in the Noosa River, although even that is marginal, with a large hatchery operating on the banks I'm sure there have been plenty of accidental stockings into there, and open the other areas. As I've said before, I doubt that there is a true wild Bass left in Queensland waters, apart from maybe the Noosa. We've seen how they can travel when lakes overflow. Having a closed season in the Pine River system is a complete joke, the same as the Brisbane and the Bremer and the Coomera and the Nerang, not to forget the Logan and Albert. My vote is for the abolition of a closed season across the board, unless Fisheries can prove that the current system helps in the protection of true wild strain Australian Bass.
Crackers:
In a perfect world all of those lake bass would die when they went over the dam walls & therefore potentially not introduce piss poor genetics into the wild fish. We don't want to end up with ruined wild fisheries like they did in America and their wild fish lost the ability to breed due to a denuded gene pool, fish stocking is a dangerous thing if done wrong and we have no genetic controls or QA process here. (same mistakes they made)
I vote for removal of bass closed season above first weir on system, as opposed to the first dam which is the current setup. A barrier is a barrier.
bushwacker:
Im undecided on the topic tho Dale you make some good points... The wild population would be so diluted by now with stocked bass that i think has reached the point of no return. With the amount of bass being stocked along the eastern coast of australia do wild bass even need to breed ? were dams supposed to become self stocking ? I think man has played god a little too much now cant go back... As for the closed season buisness am still undecided what way to go seems best, maybe a look into future plans would help with that decision all round.