Your fishing license fees at work on the Glenelg River

by Department of Primary Industries on 20 Oct 2010 Research funded by recreational fishing licence revenue suggests fishing for black bream in the Glenelg River will improve in the next year or two with more legal size bream available.

Acting Executive Director of Fisheries Victoria, Travis Dowling, said anglers could look forward to a greater proportion of the black bream population being above 28cm because bream from a strong year class spawned in 2005-06 were now entering the fishery in large numbers.

'This is good news for fishers who target black bream,' Mr Dowling said. 'This ability to monitor fish stocks and forecast fishing trends has been made possible by volunteer angler diarists who collect information during their normal fishing trips and pass it onto our Fisheries Research Branch, based at Queenscliff, for analysis.

'These angler diarists record how long they fish for, what species of fish they catch, and the length composition of key target species, which allows fisheries researchers to compare the health of the fishery from year to year.

'Victorian black bream stocks do not spawn successfully every year and poor recruitment had occurred in the Glenelg River system for nine years between 1985 and 1994.

'However, in 1997-98 and again in 2005-06 there was good spawning success and it is these two strong bream year classes that have provided the bulk of catches over the last decade.

'Black bream in the Glenelg River estuary range in age from one to 29 years, but the strength of each age group varies enormously, which is common for bream populations in Victoria.

'Mulloway were also caught by angler diarists in the Glenelg River, but less often than other species, with a recent catch rate of one mulloway per three hours of fishing time. This catch rate was similar to the ten year average for the species in this water.

'Mulloway caught by angler diarists ranged from 40 to 98cm in length and from two to six years of age. They are a fast growing species with few year classes present in the Glenelg River at any one time.

'This valuable information from angler diarists will be used by fisheries managers to ensure our estuarine fisheries are managed sustainably,' Mr Dowling said.

For the full research report or to learn more about how fishing licence fees are being spent to improve angling opportunities, please go to: www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fishing/feesatwork