East Coast Freshwater Natives in WA
Just read an article in the latest Western Australian Fishing Magazine about the possibility of stocking some of our freshwater impoundments with east coast natives. It seems to me that these articles pop up every year in the magazines but nothing ever comes from it. As a group the WA recreational fishing community is huge and should have plenty of political clout, what do we need to do to get the ball rolling with getting some of the public irrigation dams stocked??
The eastern states have now been stocking their freshwater impoundments for years with Murray Cod, Yellowbelly and Bass with outstanding success. Here in WA we have plenty of suitable waters which currently are full of Redfin Perch which would provide a great food source for these fish. It seems like such a waste having huge bodies of water like Wellington and Harvey Dams not being utilised to their full potential.
In my opinion the WA trout fishery is in decline with the continuing trend of warmer summers making survival more difficult or even impossible in some waters. Last years large fish kills in Big Brook Dam and Lefroy Brook are evidence of that. How many died elsewhere that just sank to the bottom or were eaten by marron that we dont even know about? It seems to me that the returns in many of the so called Trout waters are small (and decreasing) in relation to the number of fish being stocked by Fisheries. Meanwhile my pet Murray Cod was perfectly happy in his aquarium yesterday when water temps topped 31C !!!
Diehard Trout anglers are generally against the stocking of east coast natives as they fear they will eat the trout and take over the water. Evidence from many of the dams in the eastern states actually shows the opposite occurring, lake Eildon in Vic being one example of this.
Thoughts anyone?
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Marron
If you release them in to the streams and rivers say goodbye to catching marron.
crasny1
Posts: 7029
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Agree 100%
That is the risk. Marron is native to WA only, and I suspect it is because we dont have those particular Eastern state predators in the local waterways. Yabbies over east can dig holes to hide in, marron predominantly cant, especially when young. Would be easy pickings for Murray cod and yellow belly.
Even as an avid fisherman, and I would love to catch Murray cod and others, it would have to be in lakes and dams that arent open to Marron waters. Brings it back to private dams, and even then like redfin and carp, they do escape and that would spell disaster for our beloved marron.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
squidder
Posts: 457
Date Joined: 03/09/10
Travel
if you wish to catch what's not where you live.
That's part of the Buzz.
I also agree with the two prior comments 100%
Poltergeist
Posts: 159
Date Joined: 03/12/13
Fair enough, Marron are
Fair enough, Marron are native to the WA rivers but only those from the Collie River southwards. All waters north of the Collie they have been introduced so technically dont belong there either. The irrigation dams are man made and contain far more marron than the original peice of river or creek that existed before any dam was constructed. At present these dams also contain plauge proportions of Redfin Perch which marron constitute the bulk of their diet. If fish like Murray Cod or Golden Perch ate a fair percentage of Redfin would the number of marron getting eaten actually be any more than what it would have been??
I guess the only way one could tell would be to do a trial stocking in one of the dams and see what the result is. The fact is that these aust natives (except for maybe Murray Cod) wouldnt breed in the dams so if they did hammer the marron its not like it would be an irreversible situation as exists with Redfin Perch. The marron season is generally only 4 weeks long, over east the fishing for natives is a year round proposition (3 month closure of taking of cod) and if a similar situation existed here would in my opinion provide more fishing options for west aussies and better utilise the existing freshwater impoundments we have.
crasny1
Posts: 7029
Date Joined: 16/10/08
I feel your pain
But marron is an iconic WA species and even the potential to destroy that causes me stress.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
What we don't know
For those of us who have never caught a Murray cod or bass, what we don't know won't hurt us. Those that want to catch them, there is nothing stopping them hopping in a car or plane and getting some over east where they belong.
There is no such thing as a trial period where introduced species are released in to the wild, take rabbits, foxes, prickly pear, cane toads, sparrows, starlings and genetically modified seed for farmers.
Its like the genie in the bottle, once its out there is no way he wants to get back in!!!
crasny1
Posts: 7029
Date Joined: 16/10/08
I would want to one day tackle them
But there is nothing quite like a balmy evening sitting on th banks off a SW river or dam, sucking on a coldie and every now and then walking the line trying to catch a feed. Have the pot boiling, some fresh alfafa spout and a shit load off butter and Bread.
What else does a man want- hot marron rolls!!! Need a drool icon.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Different view
Wasn't a big fan of marron or catching them, always involved falling in the drink, tripping over roots and logs, getting half pissed and then usually in the middle of winter before closed seasons were introduced.
Give me a southern cray any day , IMO anything that comes from fresh water, barra trout, marron, yabbies etc all taste like mud, call me spoilt, then I deserve it.
Fishobrad80
Posts: 61
Date Joined: 24/03/13
Not just marron
As well as the marron there are many different native fish only found in the south west. Pygmy Perch, Night fish, Gallaxia minnows and freshwater glass shrimp. They are small or "bait" size fish. I don't think the eastern state fish belong in our waterways and in some ways, can't understand why the Western Australian government still actively introduces European predators like trout into them. I think that the idea of stocked impoundments is a great idea. the government already has stringent rules n regs I place for the aquaculture industry, so surely we should be moving forward unused water catchments etc?
carnarvonite
Posts: 8707
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Flood
All it takes is one good flood and they are no longer in their "safe" unused water catchment. You only have to look in the Preston river to see how much damage those lovely goldfish , that soft hearted people who couldn't stick them down the dunny when they had enough of them, released them.
The area behind the Old Picton church through to the back of the super works used to be rife with them.
sideshow
Posts: 92
Date Joined: 21/01/13
Dont get me wrong I would
Dont get me wrong I would love to catch bass and cod and not have to go over east, BUT
I have spoken to people that catch redfin and release them in other lakes closer to their homes in Bunbury.
Imagine if there was other non native south west spiecies with these clowns doing this already. Then as Carnarvonite said dams and rivers flood no more control
All work and no fishing makes me a dull boy!!!!!!!!
terboz123
Posts: 1358
Date Joined: 13/04/11
hold on why are your friend
hold on why are your friend releasing red fin into another system? isnt that wrong? arnt they a pest?
a hard days fishing still beats work
PGFC member
GCGFC membersideshow
Posts: 92
Date Joined: 21/01/13
Not friends just people i
Not friends just people i have met
All work and no fishing makes me a dull boy!!!!!!!!
rocklobster
Posts: 363
Date Joined: 27/12/09
'catch redfin and release
'catch redfin and release them into other lakes ' ? wtf?! naive stupid morons! or educated selfish knobs! if you see these people again please for the love of WA advise them they are damaging a native WA species!!! (marron ) headshake headshake headshake
sideshow
Posts: 92
Date Joined: 21/01/13
Maybe a place like Golden
Maybe a place like Golden Ponds could do it as they do it with silver perch trout and barra already maybe they have a way to control it, their ponds are man made and they are down on the flat not up in the hills
All work and no fishing makes me a dull boy!!!!!!!!
22Tango
Posts: 74
Date Joined: 17/11/13
Fingerlings
If they were stocked alongside Redfin the fingerlings would have a hard time getting past the Redfin so it mightn't be that good an investment. I think the key word is "impoundment" should they be stocked somewhere. I can't see Marron being wiped out, if it was a risk Redfin and trout would have already had an impact. It's a tricky one ✌️
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squidder
Posts: 457
Date Joined: 03/09/10
Golden Perch
were secretly placed in a dam up in the hills in the Dardanup area some time back and they grew to 3+ kilo, but they have all gone due to the dam being drained.
Silver Perch were being bred south of Capel under licence along with Barramundi. The perch were easy as to catch but due to the temp' of the water the Barra would not play the game.
I'm not sure if that guy is still in the aqua-culture game any more. You had to be near on family to fish the ponds.
By the way these "ponds" were all "Bunker Dams".
Maybe the OPEN cut holes on mine sites would be the go once cleaned>>
mr_meks
Posts: 189
Date Joined: 11/02/11
We had a dam down
We had a dam down Margaret river back in the early 90's. It was chockas with yabbies at the start. We imported some golden perch legally ( I think ) and within a few years they had completely wiped out the yabbies ( The guy we bought em off said they didn't eat yabbies, we found big yabbies in their gut ). The goldens were good to catch on lures, they would have got to about a kilo.
Then we got some silver perch, they started to school up and swim around visibly near the surface when they were a couple of inches long. This was their downfall as the shags got wind of them and they dissapeared fairly quickly.
Since the yabbies were long gone we put some marron in there, ones that were too large for the yellowbelly's. They were fine but I dont think they were breeding probably because the yellows were knocking off the babies.
At the end, we did some work enlarging the dam a bit and the stirred up silt killed off the remaining goldens. Never saw any smaller ones so they were never breeding over the roughly 6/7 year period.
This was a farm dam about 50 x 20 meters. We didn't live down there so everything in the dam fended for themselves.
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
Harding Dam (Karrathas water
Harding Dam (Karrathas water supply) would be great if it was stocked with barra. I propose a stocking program similar to the one the are doing in Lake Kununurra :)
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15665
Date Joined: 29/11/05
mm
I've heard there may already be a few... lol, if only there wasn't the nazi ranger there. ;(
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Marto
Posts: 13
Date Joined: 18/11/13
I doubt that the eastern
I doubt that the eastern states fish could do any more damage to the Marron (and other critters) than the redfin do. You only have to look at places like Harvey Dam where the redfin are in plague proportions and the Marron still prosper. Bring on the Cod I say!
smicko
Posts: 135
Date Joined: 11/04/10
Marron are in fact only
Marron are in fact only native to the Warren, Donnelly and Shannon watersheds so they themselves are feral throughout most of their range. All waterways in that area are already infested with Perch and Trout.
Bring on the natives says I!!
Brad Y
Posts: 260
Date Joined: 03/02/12
Years ago there were murray
Years ago there were murray cod upstream from Torbay inlet in some of the drainage channels/dams etc. They are no longer there. I reckon if they were able to withstand WA conditions, they probably would be- some great water up there! Marron are always going to have priority here no matter if you like em or not. Redfin should be exterminated but thats going to be near on impossible to do. So should trout which I think will happen naturally anyway if the summers get warmer. If you want to catch eastern states natives, go to golden ponds. Otherwise book a plane ticket and head east. Next thing people will be wanting carp ffs...
Fish for thrills....
Sulo
Posts: 256
Date Joined: 13/08/11
I liked the bit about
I liked the bit about stocking metro suburbia lakes and ponds to kill the ferals that are already in there. Imagine; kids go fishing instead of tagging houses cars and businesses.
triploid fish would also solve a lot of the greeny issues. I also love how everyone wants to protect our highly altered and very unpristine waterways. I am sure your hearts are in the right place!
A bit of very interesting reading on the state of our waterways. Start this ball rolling and I will be all for saving our rivers too. http://frdc.com.au/research/documents/2012-036-business-case.pdf
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
Wouldn't mind seeing some
Wouldn't mind seeing some freshwater red claw crayfish over here, they are pretty good on the chew. Already got a few opera house nets stowed away for when / if we start our travels this year to chase them around the inland rivers of QLD.
cheers
Dale
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Poltergeist
Posts: 159
Date Joined: 03/12/13
Thats right Sulo many of our
Thats right Sulo many of our waters are far from pristine anyway, those that are dont receive trout stockings so the natural native fish and crustaceans can live as nature intended them to. The man made irrigation impoundments like Waroona and Harvey Dams are a different story though as they are already full of introduced fish. Take a look at Waroona Dam, back in the late 70's and early 80's it was a fantastic trout fishery and there were also plenty of native Minnows and Pygmy Perch about. Redfin Perch appeared in the dam around 83 and stuffed it, now there is not a native fish to be seen even in the feeder streams. So, Waroona currently holds Redfin Perch (and sometimes a few Brown Trout) from England, Rainbow Trout from Nth America and introduced Marron from WA. Given that Aust native fish such as Golden Perch and Murray Cod would eat the Redfin and reduce their numbers I think this could only be a good thing for the waterway. From what I have read in dams where Cod and Perch have been introduced in the east the number of small native fish like minnows etc is actually increasing as the Redfin numbers are declining. Those Redfin that are caught also tend to be of a larger size too. As the article in the magazine states, the east coast natives have already been introduced here in the past and are now no where to be seen so did little or no enviromental damage and are unable to establish self sustaining populations.