Western Australia’s third recreational boat fishing survey – the most comprehensive of its kind in Australia – has seen active participation from recreational fishers.
Having an understanding of the recreational catch is vital to keeping our fisheries sustainable and helping to ensure there will be fish for the future
The State-wide survey also indicates there was a high level of compliance with the fishing rules, and that recreational fishers have a strong sense of stewardship for fish stocks.
The survey has been carried out every two years to compare catches over time. The latest snapshot shows an estimated 680,000 blue swimmer crabs were fished in 12 months, making it the most caught species.
School whiting was the most captured finfish with an estimated 230,000 reeled in by recreational fishers, followed by Australian herring, pink snapper and dhufish.
70 per cent of crabs and one in every four school whiting caught, along with 75 per cent of pink snapper, one in five herring and 35 per cent of rock lobsters, were released by fishers for a range of reasons, including minimum size limits.
For more information, visit http://www.fish.wa.gov.au
Photo: A School of Herring (Jacob Bøtter / Flickr)