Sweetwater Fishing Forums
General Category => News Views & Press Releases => Topic started by: Editor on January 26, 2011, 12:46:36 PM
-
Lake Nagambie fisheries research gets underway
Fisheries Victoria scientists have begun surveying Lake Nagambie and the anglers who fish there to determine the success of recent fish stocking. Native fish stocking was reintroduced into Lake Nagambie in 2008 when 200,000 golden perch and 100,000 Murray cod fingerlings were released.
By the end of this summer, more than 600,000 golden perch and 150,000 Murray cod will have been stocked into Lake Nagambie over a three year period. It is now time to start evaluating how those fish have survived and grown using two different approaches.
The first will involve interviewing anglers between December and Easter about their catch, time spent fishing, their target species and level of angling satisfaction. The second approach involves directly sampling the fish in Lake Nagambie to quantify the survival, growth and proportion of stocked fish within the overall populations.
If the stocked fish are abundant, it indicates that fish stocking has been successful so far and anglers can look forward to better fishing in years to come. It is hoped the interviews with anglers might also reveal keen fishers who are willing to play a bigger role in monitoring stocked fish over the longer term.
We’d like avid anglers to be an ongoing point of contact for Fisheries Victoria scientists so we can use their information to help gauge the success of the stocking program and fine tune our management strategies. With more native fish scheduled for release this summer, it will be important to assess the benefits from stocking using the best and most cost effective research available through the Fisheries Research Branch.
The stockings and fisheries assessment are well supported by the Nagambie Angling Club whose members are keen to see the fishery return to its former glory as a regional fishing hotspot for locals and visitors.