Fishing News

New artificial reef for Shoalhaven going ahead
The Shoalhaven area will get the State’s second offshore artificial as announced by NSW Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson earlier this month.

“The new southern offshore artificial reef will be located about 30 metres deep with easy access from the entrance to the Shoalhaven River,” Ms Hodgkinson said.

“To determine the exact site, extensive consultation will be undertaken with recreational and commercial fishermen, Government agencies and other stakeholders. A detailed environmental assessment will be undertaken prior to deployment of the reef and its effectiveness will be monitored. Once installed, the Shoalhaven offshore artificial reef will greatly enhance opportunities for recreational fishermen and scuba divers.

“In recent years the NSW Government has deployed five concrete artificial reefs in estuarine locations and one steel reef off Sydney’s South Head, all of which have been highly successful and popular. The reef for Shoalhaven will differ in design from the large steel structure deployed off South Head instead consisting of clusters of giant concrete cubes up to four metres in height and weighing as much as 17 tonnes each. Depending on the dimensions of the final concrete reef design selected, between 20 and 40 concrete cubes will be used.”

Suntag passes million fish milestone
Suntag, one of the largest volunteer fish databases in the world, has passed a significant milestone with over 1 million fish records in the database. QLD Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, John McVeigh congratulated Infofish Australia and the Australian National Sportfishing Association Qld Inc and the more than 25,000 fishers who contributed records to the database over the past 27 years.

Minister McVeigh said, "This is a significant achievement by all those involved because Suntag is considered to be the best managed volunteer fish database in the world. I’m pleased the Queensland Government has provided funding to maintain this important fisheries information asset and we’ve provided an additional $40,000 in 2013/14."

Suntag is managed by Infofish Australia in partnership with the Australian National Sportfishing Association Qld Inc (ANSAQ). ANSAQ president Jason Stanfield said, "This important milestone is recognition of the efforts of many of our members over a long time. The database has provided a wealth of information that’s allowed us to better understand and manage our fisheries."

Bill Sawynok, Manager of Infofish Australia said, "Having a world class database here in Queensland is an important asset for the fishing industry. Infofish Australia has a policy of ensuring that we use leading edge technology in collecting and delivering information to deal with the real issues that the fishing industry faces on a continuing basis."

The total number of fish records in the database now exceeds 1.02 million with records of 692,000 tagged fish, 280,000 fish from catches and 54,000 recaptures of tagged fish.

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos