Tag: rfif

FADs to be Deployed in Regional Fishing Hotspots

Regional fishing hotspots are set to get a boost in 2018 as fish aggregating devices (FADs) are deployed in WA regional centres including Exmouth, Geraldton and Albany.

With funding from the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund, local communities are working with Recfishwest to deliver FADs. This will diversify fishing opportunities for locals and visiting fishers alike. FADs will provide fishers an opportunity to catch fast growing, highly migratory pelagic species.

Designed to aggregate fish such as Mahi Mahi, Tuna and Billfish, the regional FAD project will see the first FAD installed in 2018. FADs have been used successfully throughout Australia, including off the coast of Perth, where the Perth Game Fishing Club deploys FADs in November each year.

These are accessed regularly by metropolitan fishers and provide high quality fishing for Mahi Mahi, Tuna, Wahoo and Marlin.

Some of these FAD’s will be in reach for regular trailer boat fishers with boats of less than 5m to enable them the opportunity to catch highly sought after sportfish.

Recfishwest looks forward to implementing this program and will keep subscribers up to date with progress reported through our Broad Cast and social media platforms.

This project was made possible by the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund.

Recfishwest Fishing Development Officer Matt Gillett with a dolphinfish caught off Jurien Bay.

Crab Stocking Trial Project a WA First!

It is hard to find a better way to spend your summer afternoons than wading the estuary flats with a crab scoop in hand. In fact, crabbing for Blue Swimmer Crabs (Portunus armatus) is one of the most popular fishing activities in Western Australia.

Stocking of many of WA’s favourite finfish has occurred across the state with Pink Snapper, Black Bream, Barramundi and Mulloway all being stocked, yet there has been no stocking of crabs. Given their popularity and the importance of crabbing to WA culture, investigating possible stocking options for Blue Swimmer Crabs was identified as a way to enhance crabbing and crab stocks in WA.

Recently the Australian Centre for Applied Aquaculture Research (ACAAR) at South Metropolitan TAFE received a grant from the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF) to identify future restocking options for Blue Swimmer Crabs. Since the culturing of Blue Swimmer Crabs from berried broodstock had never been done in WA, this project would first investigate if this process was feasible, and if successful, result in the first stocking of crabs in WA.

What happened?

Collecting the broodstock
• With assistance from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Division of Fisheries, a handful of wild berried broodstock were collected from the Peel Harvey Estuary and transported to ACAAR’s facility in Fremantle
• The berried females arrived full of eggs at an early stage of development when the eggs are still yellow (Figure 1). Conditions and temperature in the tank were then altered to assist the crabs developing their eggs to a later stage where the eggs turn a darker colour and are ready for spawning (Figure 2).

From hatching to release
• Once the eggs hatch, the earliest stages of a crab’s life cycle begins to be visible when viewed through a microscope. This first stage (below) of a crab’s journey is called a Zoea and resembles something more closely out of an Alien movie than of a crab. At this stage, the Zoea have limited ability to move to avoid predators and find food and are at the mercy of their environment. Hatchery conditions and food availability must be carefully managed during this vulnerable stage.

• Day by day the Zoea continue to grow and develop and after 12 days they make their next big transformation as part of their life cycle, metamorphosing into a Megalopa. At this stage they are starting to look much more similar to their parents having grown biting claws and gained the ability swim freely.

• After 19 days from hatching, the project reached an important milestone with the Megalopa undergoing their final metamorphose into a Crablet. This is a dangerous stage in the development of the crabs as the crablets quickly become highly cannibalistic and aggressive, apparently maximising the use of their newly grown claws.

• From the broodstock crabs that contributed to the spawning, the final stage of the projects saw the release of 3700 crablets into the Peel Harvey Estuary.

The success of this WA first project has opened the door to future potential restocking programs for crabs that could play a role in continuing to create great fishing experiences for the WA community forever. A second project, also funded through licence fees aims to release up to 100,000 crabs into Metropolitan waters and start to design a larger scale stocking program for WA.

This project was funded through the RFIF and supported by DPIRD, Division of Fisheries and Recfishwest.

WA Needs More Fishing Heroes!

Our Purpose is to ensure Great Fishing Experiences for all in the WA community forever.
Our Commitment is to Protect, Promote and Develop Sustainable, Accessible, Enjoyable and Safe fishing for the benefit of the community.

Thanks to our current supporters, Recfishwest can continue the fight to keep fishing great in WA.

Our role is to: 
– Be your voice that would not otherwise be heard
– Be the voice of the fish that otherwise goes unheard or ignored
– Keep you informed of all thing affecting your fishing, 24/7; we believe you need to know!
– Strive to ensure you and your family return home safe after a day’s fishing
– Defend your fishing rights when your local fishing spot is under threat
– Fight when access to fishing areas is put at risk
– Roll up our sleeves and find a solution when no one else will.

Contribute to what we do and support us, become a member and let us do the hard yakka on your behalf.  We don’t make profits here at Recfishwest and we make sure all our resources go directly towards our action to protect, promote and develop our fishing environments and to keep you fishing.

To give you an idea of where your support helps us make fishing better:
• Stocking of important recreational fish species around WA, including Pink Snapper, Barramundi, Prawns, Mulloway and Freshwater Trout
• Development, design and deployment of Artificial Reefs in Western Australia
• Development of important fishing research and conservation programs
• Development of WA’s ‘Fish and Survive’ program, to ensure all fishers come home safe after a day’s fishing
• Delivery of WA’s only state-wide fishing clinic program to thousands of kids in both metro and regional areas

A strong membership base allows us to pursue matters that affect your fishing with added confidence knowing you’ve got our back, just like we’ve got yours!

For just 50c per week, you can help us protect and develop fishing experiences in Western Australia, for the community forever.

Recfishwest and community working together to improve your fishing

Recfishwest Community Grants Scheme – Round 7

Recfishwest is proud of the annual Recfishwest community grant scheme. This scheme is an opportunity for community groups to apply for funding to support community projects that make fishing better in WA.

Applications for Round 7 of the Recfishwest community grant scheme came from a broad range of community groups including fishing clubs and associations, health care providers, sea rescue groups, local government, environmental groups, men’s sheds and disability advocates.

There were some fantastic applications for fun, exciting and innovative ways to improve fishing experiences. Recfishwest takes great pleasure in providing community groups with the opportunities to make some dreams a reality, and we respect and acknowledge that often these small community groups have the ability to stretch a dollar much further than anyone could think possible.

The partnerships Recfishwest builds with community groups are equally valuable for us in supporting and hearing the wishes of the fishing community and ultimately working together for the goal of making fishing better for West Australians.

Recipients of Recfishwest Community Grant scheme – Round 7 funding include:

1. Mandalay Holiday Resort – To continue their popular family fishing event
2. Fervor – A seafood cook book utilising native Australian bush herbs and spices to complement our local seafood.
3. Fremantle Sailing club – To promote their Calamari Classic event alongside an educational workshop to support the occasion.
4. Fishability – Funding to assist in improving their wheelchair friendly fishing vessel the Nev Thomas.
5. Kalbarri Offshore & Angling Club – To once again support their highly successfully Kid’s Whiting Competition during the school holidays.
6. The Australian National Sportfishing Association WA Inc – Modernising the way in which they collect data for their West Tag program.
7. Esperance Deep Sea Angling Club – To continue the ever popular Family Fishing Fun Day, fishing education and safety as well as improving rock fishing safety infrastructure.
8. Albany Offshore Boating and Fishing Club – Support for their Easter rock fishing safety campaigning at Salmon Holes.
9. Esperance Land Based Fishing Club – A grant has been awarded to help build their annual fishing event.
10. Greenhead Men’s Shed – These local champions have received a grant to go towards the cost of designing, obtaining approvals and construction of a fish cleaning station for the local boat ramp.
11. Surfcasting and Angling Club of WA – The purchase of safety equipment and life jackets for dry casting days and fishing field days.
12. WA Underwater Club – Funding to educate on safe and effective practice for freedivers and spearfishers including regional representation and training course subsidies.
13. Breast Cancer Care WA – Continued support for the Purple Fly Fishing program providing the opportunity for those profoundly affected by breast cancer to enjoy the experience of fly fishing in a serene natural setting.

Mandalay Holiday Resort owner Clive Johnson and previous Recfishwest Community Grant recipient said: “The owners and staff of Mandalay Holiday Resort would like to thank Recfishwest for making some funds available to sponsor this great event (Mandalay Family Fishing Competition 2015/16). It was great to see kids get such a thrill for catching their first fish and making fishing available to so many families.”

Recfishwest continues to support local community ventures, and commend all the fantastic work and initiative taken by the community to date, completed through these grants.

Artificial Reefs Highlights New Fishing Projects for WA

More Artificial Reefs Highlights New Fishing Projects for WA
– Nine new projects funded from recreational fishing licence money
– New artificial reefs for Exmouth and Esperance plus funding towards an artificial reef for Dampier

Fisheries Minister, Joe Francis, today announced nine new fishing projects funded from recreational fishing licence money through the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF). These projects include nearshore artificial reefs to benefit the regional communities of Exmouth and Esperance.  Exmouth and Esperance are set to join Mandurah, Bunbury and Dunsborough as WA’s regional towns to receive an artificial reef. These reefs will provide safe accessible fishing for families in small boats.

The Minister also approved one-third of the funding required for a large offshore artificial reef in Dampier. This funding will allow The City of Karratha to leverage the remaining funding required to see this project come to fruition.

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland was thrilled with the announcement by the government which helps ensure WA communities have enjoyable fishing experiences forever.
“The Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF) has provided our great state with over $7million of fishing projects that benefit WA fishers while having additional tangible outcomes for fish habitats, the environment and research,” Dr Rowland said.

“We ask WA fishers where they want their licence money spent and artificial reefs continually come out towards the top of the list. Recfishwest will continue to work hard to provide projects like these that improve people’s fishing experience.”
These reefs provide quality fish habitat in areas where people would normally need to travel excessive distances or venture into rough waters.”
“A lot of people are now seeing the great fishing on the existing South West and Mandurah artificial reefs and if we can transfer those great fishing experiences to other regional hubs state-wide, it will be a huge boost for localised tourism as well as a win for fish habitats.


Other projects announced in this RFIF round included:
– A WA first, Blue Swimmer Crab stocking project
– A project to Determine Economic Value of Recreational Fishing in WA
– An extension of the existing Oyster Reef trial in Albany
– A Threadfin Salmon tagging project in Roebuck Bay, involving local fishers
– Fisher deployed shark bite off video survey
– Continued support for Fishability in WA (Fishers with Disabilities)
– A Community project to connect fishing clubs with their communities’

See a project that interests you? Please get in contact with us and we can tell you more.
ENDS
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Fact File:
– The Recreational Fishing Initiative Fund has invested millions of dollars back into rec fishing projects since 2012.
– Purpose built artificial reef structures feature a strong reinforced concrete framework which provides a hard substrate for reef-building organisms and algae to settle on as well as protective structure for fish to hide from predators and aggregate around.
– Artificial reef installations at the other south-west locations (Mandurah, Bunbury, Dunsborough) have already started to see some great results. Check them out here: https://recfishwest.org.au/artificial-reefs/
– This project was made possible by the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund and supported by Recfishwest and the WA Department of Fisheries.