Australian coarse fish

[Vagabond]

Is that an Aspindale attached to your Mitchel?

 

Nice fat perch to go with some nice tackle!

 

 

Dunno, I bought it from a junk shop for a fiver, and have since refurbished it. Can't remember if it had a name on it. Its a nice piece of cane though, about halfway between a Mark 4 and an SU.

[Leon Roskilly]

G'day mate, a good place for murray cod is the Loddon river in central Vic.

 

 

I had this in my inbox, from the Overflow Newsletter, from Australia

 

Victorian Government protects Murray Cod with a new declaration

The Aussie icon will get an holiday from organised criminals

 

The great Australian icon, the

Murray Cod, will now have increased

protection from organised crime.

 

The Minister Responsible for Fisheries,

Joe Helper, announced today that

Australia’s largest native freshwater

fish had been declared a priority

species under the Fisheries Act.

 

“The Government is taking action to

ensure future generations are able to

enjoy and catch these wonderful fish

for many years to come,” Mr Helper

said.

 

“This means that those who

possess or traffic commercial

quantities of Murray cod can be

charged and face penalties of up to

10 years jail.”

 

Mr Helper said restocking,

monitoring and the efforts of Victoria’s

recreational fishers continue over

the past decade to be invaluable

to the recovery of the fish.

 

“Almost

2.5 million Murray cod fingerlings

have been released into Victorian

inland waterways since we came into

Government,” he said.

 

But there is now

growing evidence that illegal trade

is rising and trafficking is becoming

more lucrative to organised criminals,

threatening to derail this recovery

effort.

 

For this reason, the Government

has introduced these new laws to

give Murray cod the same priority

protection as other valuable species,

such as abalone and rock lobster.”

 

Under the new rules a commercial

quantity of Murray cod is defined as

possessing three times the daily bag

limit, or having 30 kilograms of Murray

cod in any form other than a whole

fish.

 

Currently, the legal recreational take

of Murray cod in Victoria is a daily bag/

possession limit of two fish, which

must be between 60 centimetres and

100 centimetres in length.

 

Murray cod can fetch $50 a

kilogram - a haul of six fish, with an

average weight of 10 kilograms each,

would fetch around $3000 on black

markets.

 

Mr Helper said the sophisticated

investigative techniques used by

Fisheries Victoria to successfully catch

abalone and lobster thieves would

be used to protect the cod.

 

“These

new laws should make thieves who

consider Murray cod an easier target

think twice,” he said.

 

Fisheries Victoria Chief Investigator

Murray Donaldson said indictable

penalties had significantly deterred

organised fisheries criminals from

targeting abalone and rock lobster.

 

“We will identify and find people

who are taking commercial quantities

of Murray cod. When caught they

now face even tougher penalties,”

Mr Donaldson said.

 

Murray Cod background

Murray cod are found in many

Victorian waterways including the

Ovens and Loddon rivers, Gunbower

Creek and Kow Swamp, with

restocking and community efforts

leading to a recovery in some areas.

Murray cod have the potential

to weigh more than 100 kilograms

and be more than 100 years old.

 

It

is listed nationally as a vulnerable

species.

 

During 2002, Fisheries Victoria

purchased the remaining five Inland

Access Licences with $120,000

from the Victorian Government’s

Recreational Fishing Trust Fund.

 

The buyout resulted in the end of

commercial net fishing for all species

(other than carp) in 28 Victorian

waters.

 

In neighbouring states, figures

show a dramatic drop in the

commercial catch of Murray cod.

 

NSW and South Australia both

recorded a decline from 140 tonnes

a year in the mid-1950s to just 20

tonnes a decade later.

 

Victoria’s

industry was smaller with 12

commercial fishers catching 1.55

tonnes of Murray cod in 1978-79.

[Steve Walker]

As I said, reference books tend to include material from previous reference books.

 

This would be a lot easier if the academic habit of citing references had become universal practice!

[Leon Roskilly]

Interesting article and video about restoring murray cod by restoring habitat, electro-fishing and tagging.

 

http://www.theage.com.au/environment/murra...tml?autostart=1