Tag: woodman point

Huge Snapper Guardians turnout highlights Cockburn Sound’s value to local community

The record attendance of 1,000 people at this year’s Snapper Guardians highlights the huge value the local community places in Cockburn Sound and the pink snapper stocks it supports. 

Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “This massive turn-out from the community sends out such a clear signal as to how important the health of this waterway is to so many West Australians and the Cast of Thousands.”  

Snapper Guardians’ popularity has always seen solid numbers of the community rolling up their sleeves to help hand-release thousands of juvenile pink snapper – but the 2025 edition sent our attendance records tumbling.  

Recfishwest was blown away by the 1,000-plus mums, dads and kids who grabbed a bucket full of fish and helped us release 3,000 juvenile pink snapper – around 100 days old and between 7-9cm long – into their new home.  

A big thanks to all of you who came down to help out including Ozfish Unlimited, and DPIRD’s Fremantle fish hatchery staff who collected the eggs, hatched and reared the fish for the release.  

Check out the highlights from this special day in the video below!

Andrew said, “This turnout far exceeds what we were expecting, and it’s great to see passionate people give back to the environment which supports their fishing. 

“Decision-makers and planners responsible for future industrialisation in these pristine waters need to take notice and reflect. The future of the Sound is in their hands and it’s simply too valuable to mess it up.”

It was fantastic to see the community’s respect for pink snapper was as big as the line was for releasing them! A big thanks to all families who came down and helped us release 3,000 pinkies in less than an hour!

Get around protecting the Sound 

Snapper Guardians is just one of many Recfishwest-led initiatives working towards improving habitat and fish stocks which build better environments. It’s one of the targets in our election manifesto, and this is crucially important for Cockburn Sound.  

This sheltered waterway on Perth’s doorstep is home to one of the largest aggregations of pink snapper on the West Coast and crucial nursery habitat for species like herring, whiting, crabs and squid – and with industrialisation threats to the area, we all need to rally together to protect it.  

Are you passionate about protecting Cockburn Sound? Visit savecockburnsound.org.au to see what you can do.

Breakaway FAD’s epic 4,000km drift!

A break-away FAD has been “at large” for an epic 4,000km-plus drift up to Shark Bay, before looping back and eventually beaching at Walpole on the South Coast (see map below). 

FAD #6 broke off from its anchor point around 50km off Woodman Point earlier this year. FADs can break away for a number of reasons such as boat strikes, violent swell, wind and gear failure. Therefore, all FADs are fitted with satellite trackers. 

That’s how the wayward fish aggregation device was tracked as it drifted up to 650km off the coast, before being carried northwards up to 400km west off Shark Bay.  

It then looped around, being dragged within 50km of the Abrolhos Islands, before catching the Leeuwin Current and drifting all the way down to the South Coast, landing at Conspicuous Cliffs Beach, near Walpole.  

Taking the scenic route! FAD #6 started its journey out from Woodman Point and ended up drifting north of Kalbarri, before moving southwards and eventually washing ashore in Walpole due to our strong currents.

The FAD was retrieved by DBCA rangers of the Walpole-Nornalup National Park, and while the FAD had an extensive journey, it is still thankfully in great nick, allowing it to be redeployed later this year as part of the ongoing Statewide FADs program. 

The FAD’s voyage highlights the strength of the Leeuwin Current along the WA coast, which pelagic fish species such as billfish, tuna, mackerel, yellowtail kingfish and Samsonfish use as a “highway” to navigate up and down our coastline. 

The wayward FAD finally washed up at Conspicuous Cliffs Beach, near Walpole looking none too worse for wear on the back of its 4,000km trek! 

Tapping into the bountiful pelagic fishing action provided by the current is a great boon for recreational and charter boat fishers, whose love for fishing the FADs fuelled Recfishwest and the fishing community’s establishment of the successful three-year FADs program trial.  

The State Government has committed to maintaining and developing the State-wide FADs network until at least June, 2025.  

Want to know more about the FADS currently deployed in WA waters along with their coordinates? Check out our dedicated FADs webpage here or download the Recfishwest App! 

Snapper Guardians is back! Help us release 5,000 juvenile pink snapper into Cockburn Sound on Saturday 11 February!

Recfishwest is delighted to announce our 2023 Snapper Guardians community fish stocking event will go ahead this year at Woodman Point in Cockburn Sound on Saturday, 11 February following a two-year break.  

It is welcome news for mums, dads and kids who can again attend this popular event in person to help us release 5,000 juvenile pink snapper into Cockburn Sound, following the cancellation of the community event in 2021 and 2022 due to COVID.  

Even though we reluctantly had to cancel these public events, COVID didn’t stop us releasing pink snapper into the Sound with 100,000 released last year, while 20,000 were released in 2021.  

Event details

Where: 10am on Saturday, 11 February at Jervoise Bay, Woodman Point (see map below)

What to bring: All you need is your family, camera, hat, sunscreen, bathers and a snorkel if you want to get in the drink and get an underwater view of the juvenile snapper swimming off into their new home. 

Pink snapper have always been strongly associated with Cockburn Sound, which supports the West Coast Bioregion’s largest pink snapper spawning aggregation, and which is treasured by the local community as a safe, accessible and fantastic fishery on Perth’s doorstep. 

Kids just love being part of Snapper Guardians and getting their sleeves rolled up to help release the juvenile pinkies!

“The recreational fishing community has a strong track record in driving initiatives that safeguard demersal fish stocks,” said Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland, “and events like Snapper Guardians highlight to decision-makers how much local people care about the future of these fish and Cockburn Sound as a whole. This is particularly important given the recent west coast demersal changes and the Government’s plans to build a new port in Cockburn Sound.  

“It’s been great to see how the community has effectively made Snapper Guardians its own and we are proud and excited to welcome back community members of all ages to roll up their sleeves and enjoy the special experience of watching these pinkies swim off into the Sound.” 

 

The 2023 Snapper Guardians event will take place on 11 February at Jervoise Bay, Woodman Point. Click here to view the location on Google Maps.

A community-based fish stocking program

Snapper Guardians was launched in response to the 2015 fish kill that saw a horrific number of adult pink snapper wash up dead along the shoreline of Cockburn Sound.  

On the back of the community outcry that ensued, Recfishwest launched a crowd-funded fish stocking program in the sound. 

Today the program is supported by DPIRD’s aquaculture centre in Fremantle where the juvenile snapper are hatched and reared through the most vulnerable phase of their life cycle before being released to maximise their survival opportunity.  

Since the inaugural Snapper Guardians event held in 2016, more than 220,000 pink snapper have been released into Cockburn Sound for future generations of fishers to enjoy catching.

Watch the Snapper Guardians story below.

Thousands more pinkies to be released in the metro area 

The Government has committed to stocking another 35,000 juvenile at Cockburn Power Boats Club and at Fremantle Sailing Club around mid-February, bringing the total number of pink snapper making a splash in metro waters in 2023 to 40,000.  

A big Recfishwest thanks to Daiwa as our community fish stocking partners for their continuing support of our community events in 2023 and to the crew at DPIRD’s Fremantle fish hatchery who continue to help make Snapper Guardians happen .  

Please note, parents and carers are responsible for and must remain with their children at all times.