Tagged Fish Movements

[Member]

Attaches is Suntag 177 which shows tagged fish from Lake Somerset moving both upstream & downstream. Not entirely accurate comments on the attachment stating "Fish have taken advantage of the very wet season and flooding to move to places they have not been able to get to for many years." In reality fish can readily move downstream during normal releases from these dams and in normal flows and can most certainly move upstream from Lake Somerset to Woodford Weir without requiring major flood event.

What is does show is that some fish have moved upstream as shown by the 580mm Bass, not all fish went down stream. That bass should have been in the order of 3kg, it should have fed the family.

[Member]

Hi,

Seeing that 2 people have volunteered that they caught 2 of these fish at Mt Crosby Weir - a no fish zone - is this a confession to illegal fishing & if so do they get reported?

 

Graham

[Member]

Hi,

Seeing that 2 people have volunteered that they caught 2 of these fish at Mt Crosby Weir - a no fish zone - is this a confession to illegal fishing & if so do they get reported?

 

Graham

Good point, but they could have been outside the no fish zone....

fitz..

[Member]

The slow growth rate of the Golden Perch K38704 could be from it being in the lower Brisbane since 99/2000.
Had another Bass recaptured in the North Pine recently from the Brisbane River, it was tagged in the lower Brisbane.

cheers
Steve

[Member]

The slow growth rate of the Golden Perch K38704 could be from it being in the lower Brisbane since 99/2000.

cheers
Steve

Or poor tag positioning did nerve damage, or post tagging infection impacted on growth. Could be any number of reasons for the slow growth..... Not normal growth for a Golden Perch that's for sure...

fitz..

[Member]

Tagged Bass are more common than Unicorns 

Cheers,
Dave.

[Member]

Or poor tag positioning did nerve damage, or post tagging infection impacted on growth. Could be any number of reasons for the slow growth..... Not normal growth for a Golden Perch that's for sure...

fitz..

Yes seen a few tagged fish that made me cringe Fitzy.
People should be properly trained to tag fish.
Some tagging is pointless, see attached pic, why would you possibly want to tag Toga ?
Though you can win points towards an award 

cheers
Steve

[Member]

These days, pretty much all recreational freshwater tagging is superfluous anyway.  Fisheries can justify their extended studies, but the average fisho tagging a fish and releasing it is not really adding anything to the knowledge base now.  There are enough fish swimming around SEQ with tags in them.
You have to wonder at the accuracy of the growth data when you take the shock of tagging into consideration.  If you took a poddy calf and shoved a star picket between his second and third ribs, then set him free, do you think he'd grow up a bit different to his brothers?

[Member]

These days, pretty much all recreational freshwater tagging is superfluous anyway.  Fisheries can justify their extended studies, but the average fisho tagging a fish and releasing it is not really adding anything to the knowledge base now.  There are enough fish swimming around SEQ with tags in them.
You have to wonder at the accuracy of the growth data when you take the shock of tagging into consideration.  If you took a poddy calf and shoved a star picket between his second and third ribs, then set him free, do you think he'd grow up a bit different to his brothers?

So your against tagging then? So the general public who tag has contributed data via tagging that we now know what fish do and the rest is pointless?


Cheers

[Member]

Or maybe more to the point Beau is they may have hit the wall with how much fish tagging can tell you ?

Steve

[Member]

So thats it then we have learned all we need to know we have reached the pinnacle if knowledge of fish movements?

[Member]

So thats it then we have learned all we need to know we have reached the pinnacle if knowledge of fish movements?

I would suggest that in certain situations, yes. Tagging yellowbelly & bass in Somerset is pretty much redundant now. Tagging from the past has given some great info, there's not much more to be learned from continued cost & efforts. However I would think that tagging some Cod in the same lake could give some value.

Maybe it's more to do about the T tags and/or spear tags. A shift to pit tags or tracking tags as is used by the Qld Lungfish team or NSW fisheries on the Richmond system in combination with listening stations on rivers,,,,,, now that is giving so much more data.

There's definately a very good use for tagging, but tagging for the sake of doing it, or just to get a certificate for the wall should be questioned when there's little benefit to the fishery, nor any sound plan behind the practice. Over dinner once I asked Bill Sawynok what the plan was for ANSA members to tagging on Somerset... he had no real plan, hence I (as president of the stocking group at the time) asked for Somerset to be removed from the tagging area.

I'm not anti tagging. I'm off to the some border rivers to tag some cod & gather DNA samples. There's a sound plan behind the program, measurement tools on place & there will be an end date to the program once sufficient data is collected. Randomly setting untrained people loose to tag willy nilly is not a responsible use of resources. Can the difference be seen?
Cheers,

fitzy..

[Member]

Much clearer now fitz, thanks

[Member]

Good point, but they could have been outside the no fish zone....

fitz..

Dunno, fisheries have fined at least 8 for fishing in this area in the last few weeks, they have asked for fishcare volunteers to keep an eye on the place.

[Member]

Got my tag and recapture certificate information from Suntag for my Bass I caught and released earlier this month :

It was originally tagged at Mt Crosby Weir back in June 05 at 270mm
Recaptured just below Wivenhoe 58kms upstream at 550mm
Days out 2160
Growth 280mm

Compared to some of the other tagged bass information , this fish has been on roids !!!!

Cheers,
Dave.