KING ASH BAY BARRAMUNDI MONITORING PROJECTinfo-fish.net/king-ash-bay/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/KAB... · Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 5 Report page 2 It was also arranged

Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 5 Report page 1

KING ASH BAY BARRAMUNDI MONITORING PROJECT

Project name:King Ash Bay BarramundiMonitoring

Organisation:Infofish Australia on behalf of KingAsh Bay Fishing Club

MILESTONE NUMBER: 5REPORT PERIOD: JUNE - NOVEMBER 2010MILESTONE DATE: 1 DECEMBER 2010REPORT DATE: 30 NOVEMBER 2010REPORT AUTHOR: Bill Sawynok

MILESTONE 5 REQUIREMENTS:

Successful completion of workshop 3Report for the period June - November 2010 detailing:- Expenditure of the funds in milestone 5 (providing receipts).- Data collection and analysis (includes the data for NT Fisheries) on boat ramp

surveys, trailer counts, tagging Barramundi, juvenile Barramundi counts, update onthe setting up of the education centre.

MILESTONE 5 SUMMARY

While some preliminary work was undertaken on the project from June - September 2009, theproject did not commence until October 2009 when funding was received in September.Therefore the project has effectively been underway for just over a year.

The following milestone reports have previously been submitted:

Milestone 2 report covered the period June - November 2009Milestone 3 report was an interim report for the period November 2009 - February 2010Milestone 4 report covered the period from November 2009 - May 2010

The previous visit to the site by Infofish was in April - May 2010 following Cyclone Paul. Thiswas reported in the Milestone 4 report.

Following that visit the King Ash Bay Fishing Club was set up to continue data collection on theproject through winter and spring. This included collecting data through:

Continued tagging of BarramundiTrailer counts at the King Ash Bay boat rampCollecting details of fishing trips from boat ramp surveys and trip sheets

To ensure data collection continued Infofish had 2 site visits during this milestone period:

2-16 July (Wendi Parsons and Daniel Powell)22 October - 11 November (Bill Sawynok and Steve Watson)


It was also arranged with NT Fisheries to undertake an electrofishing survey during the secondsite visit. This occurred from 9-11 November 2010 in the McArthur River at Borroloola and allBarramundi were tagged.

Presentation 5 on progress on the project and a workshop was provided at King Ash Bay byWendi Parsons during the July trip. Presentation 6 on progress was provided to the King AshBay Fishing Club committee by Bill Sawynok during the November visit. A workshop was notheld during that trip due to the low number of visitors. Also many of the fishing groups hadalready been provided with tagging and information kits. The workshop was replaced withbriefings and training of around 15 individual groups. This was considered more effective as itprovided the opportunity to deal with groups on a one-on-one basis and proved very effectivein getting more fishing trip details and an improvement in the quality of the data provided.

A presentation on the project was made to NT Fisheries during a visit to Darwin by BillSawynok in July 2010. A briefing on project progress was also made to Chris Makepeace ofAmateur Fisherman's Association of Northern Territory (AFANT) during that visit and a furtherupdate to AFANT was provided at King Ash Bay during the November trip.

A newsletter summarising the results of the first year of the project was produced inSeptember 2010 and 500 copies were printed and distributed at King Ash Bay. The newsletterwas also provided to the McArthur River Mine Environment Office. A brief summary of theresults of the October - November trip was provided to NT Fisheries.

Additional data that will assist in providing an assessment of Barramundi stocks is beingobtained.

Weather data (wind speed and rainfall) is being collected each monthRiver flow data for the McArthur River has been obtained (to be updated)Houseboat usage data is being obtainedBarramundi tagging data as part of the North Australia Freshwater Fish has been obtainedBarramundi tagging data by McArthur River Mine monitoring program has been requested

Data on fishing trips has been provided to Steve Matthews of NT Fisheries for comparison withdata collected during the state survey.

No further information is available on progress on the Information Centre.

MILESTONE TARGETS

The following annual targets for data collection were set for the project:- Details of 1,500 fishing trips from boat ramp surveys and trip sheets- Trailer counts on 200 days- Tagging of 1,000 Barramundi

At the end of November 2010 the following progress has been made towards those targets:- Details of 1,345 fishing trips from boat ramp surveys and trip sheets- Trailer counts on 372 days- Tagging of 1,420 Barramundi

For milestone 4 we reported that it may have been difficult to reach the target for taggedBarramundi however since then catch rates for Barramundi have improved and more groupshave been involved in tagging. This has resulted in significantly more fish tagged and we arenow on target.

We are a little behind target on fishing trips however we expect to reach the target next year.


PROGRESS REPORT

1. FISHING CHARACTERISTICS

Fishing in the McArthur River area has the following characteristics:

1. Fishing is primarily carried out from March/April to November/December each yeardepending on the wet season.

2. Wet season fishing is limited to the approximate 30 residents that remain however thisis further limited by rainfall and the flow conditions in the river.

3. There are 3 modes of fishing being trailer boats, shore fishing and houseboat fishing.4. Almost all fishing activity is undertaken by visitors to the area with fishers coming fromall States.

Fishing effort in the McArthur River has the following characteristics:

1. There are 4 boat ramps in the area used by trailer boats being King Ash Bay (primary),Black Rock, Borroloola and Mule Creek near Bing Bong.

2. Boats are launched from the bank at Batten Point.3. Boats are moored from King Ash Bay through to Batten Point.4. Shore based fishing is carried out between King Ash Bay and Batten Point.5. There are 6 houseboats that operate in the river and these cater for up to 4-6 trailerboats.

6. Wind speed does not significantly influence fishing activity however strong winds canlimit the areas fished and affect catch rates.

7. Fishing is mainly a daylight activity from around 5:00am - 6:00pm.8. Fishing is mainly within estuaries with a small proportion of trips to offshore islands.9. There are a small proportion of overnight fishing trips, mostly to offshore locations,when the weather is suitable.

2. WHAT INFLUENCES FISHING?

The weather plays a key role in determining fishing effort. The most important factors arerainfall and wind speed. In the McArthur River area rainfall occurs mostly during the wetseason from around December to April with little rain during the rest of the year. This reducesfishing effort during the wet season months to minimal or none at all, particularly duringperiods of flooding. Figure 1 shows monthly rainfall at Borroloola and Centre Island1 includingthe effects of Cyclone Paul in late March and April.

Data on wind speed has been based on readings at Borroloola and Centre Island2. Generallywind speeds at Centre Island are greater than at Borroloola and significantly more variable ona monthly basis.

Most boat fishing days can be characterised as boats leaving the boat ramp early in themorning when winds are light. In most months mean winds speeds at 9.00am were below 10knots making travel to fishing destinations easier. Boats generally return to the boat rampfrom mid afternoon onwards when winds ease again. By 3:00pm in most months the meanwind speed had dropped back to around 10 knots. While winds are around 10 knots or less insome months there are a significant number of days when the maximum wind speed exceeds20 knots. In October 2009 on 29 days (93.5%) the maximum wind speed exceeded 20 knotswhile in October 2010 the number of days was 24 (77.4%). In May 2010 there were only 6days (19.3%) where the maximum wind speed was over 20 knots.

1 Data on rainfall obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au2 Data on wind speed obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au


Figure 1: Monthly rainfall at Borroloola and Centre Island

Figure 2: Wind speed (and standard deviation) at Borroloola at 9.00am, 3.00pm and number of days per month thatmaximum wind speed exceeded 20 knots (November incomplete)

Wind speed at Borroloola shows a seasonal variation with lighter winds during autumn andearly winter and then stronger winds during spring. Based on wind speed as shown in figure 2winds were lighter from August - November in 2010 than in 2009 allowing more flexibility indecisions on where to fish.

BORROLOOLA WIND SPEED

0

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30

35

Jun-09

Jul-09

Aug-09

Sep-09

Oct-09

Nov-09

Dec-09

Jan-10

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Mar-10

Apr-10

May-10

Jun-10

Jul-10

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Sep-10

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Nov-10

WINDSPEEDKNOTS

9:00am3:00pmdays max over 20 knots

BORROLOOLA RAINFALL

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450

Jun-09

Jul-09

Aug-09

Sep-09

Oct-09

Nov-09

Dec-09

Jan-10

Feb-10

Mar-10

Apr-10

May-10

Jun-10

Jul-10

Aug-10

Sep-10

Oct-10

Nov-10

RAINFALL(MM)

BorroloolaCentre Island

Cyclone Paul


3. WHO GOES FISHING?

Details of the home town or state for those taking part in a fishing trip are recorded as part ofthe fishing trip. Where members of the fishing party came from different places the home townwas recorded for the boat owner or skipper. This allows an assessment of the number of tripsundertaken by local and visiting fishers.

There were a total of 1,227 trips where the home town was recorded. Figure 3 shows thenumber of trips undertaken by fishers from each state. Almost all (92.4%) those that fish theMcArthur River system are visitors to the area as the local population is only around 30persons. Fishers were recorded as coming from all States. The greatest number of fishers camefrom Queensland undertaking 43.1% of all trips.

Fishers from the Northern Territory undertook 10.9% of all trips. The McArthur River is notrecognised as a prime Barramundi location and that influences the numbers of the fishers thatare from the Northern Territory. Darwin fishers (0.8% of trips) have access to recognisedBarramundi fishing locations that are much closer so not many fish at King Ash Bay.

Local fishers from King Ash Bay accounted for 7.6% of trips. Other Northern Territory fisherscome from inland areas such as Alice Springs (1.7% of trips) and Tennant Creek (0.6% oftrips). Fishing clubs from these areas have an established base at King Ash Bay and are regularfishers.

King Ash Bay is also an important destination for fishers from Mount Isa (1.7% of trips) as it iswithin a day's drive of the city.

Figure 3: Fisher trips at King Ash Bay based on state of origin

Queensland43.1%

New South Wales26.3%

Victoria12.7%

Northern Territory10.9%

South Australia5.1%

ACT0.3%

Western Australia1.3%

Tasmania0.2% Queensland

New South WalesVictoriaNorthern TerritorySouth AustraliaWestern AustraliaACTTasmania


4. WHAT IS A TYPICAL FISHING TRIP?

Details of the number of fishers in each boat, time of leaving the boat ramp and returning arerecorded as part of the fishing trip details. A fishing trip was defined as the median number offishers fishing for a median number of hours. To compare catch rates in different seasons astandard (typical) fishing trip was calculated.

Figure 4 shows the median number of fishers per boat. Boat fishing trips were generally around8 hours in duration with figure 5 showing the median length of trips per season. Trips duringwinter are a little shorter and this may be because of shorter daylight hours. Median trip lengthin spring 2010 was the highest at 9.1 hours. In general terms a typical boat fishing trip at KingAsh Bay can be described as being 2 fishers fishing for 8 hours.

Larger boats generally make the trips to offshore islands and often involve more than 2 fishersand can be overnight trips when the weather is favourable.

Figure 4: Median number of fishers per boat

Figure 5: Median length of fishing trips

MEDIAN FISHERS PER BOAT

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

Winter 2009 Spring 2009 Summer2009-10

Autumn2010

Winter 2010 Spring 2010

FISHERSPERBOAT

MEDIAN TRIP LENGTH

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

Winter2009

Spring2009

Summer2009-10

Autumn2010

Winter2010

Spring2010

hours


5. WHEN DO THEY GO FISHING?

Fishing is primarily a daytime activity as the risks associated with crocodiles increasesignificantly during the night. Trailers were counted on 103 days at the King Ash Bay rampwhere the number of trailers and the time were noted at various times of the day.

This provides an estimate of the number of trailers throughout the day. These trailer countshave indicated that boats leave to go fishing from just before daylight (4.30-5.30am) withmost returning by, or just after, dark (6:00pm). A profile has been developed on the use of theKing Ash Bay boat ramp over the course of a day. The maximum numbers of trailers at theramp are recorded from 10.00am - 12 noon (figure 6).

For fishing trips the time of leaving the ramp and the time returning are recorded so thatprovides another measure of when fishing trips occur. Times from fishing trips indicate thatmost boats are out on the water by mid morning and start returning from midday to lateafternoon (figure 7).

Some visiting fishers, particularly those with small boats less than 4m, launch their boats fromthe ramp then moor them in front of their camp and return the trailer to their camp site. Thesetrailers do not show up in the trailer counts at the boat ramp so counts of moored boats havebeen included where possible. Up to 36 boats were noted as moored in the area during winter2010 however the number is more usually less than 10. Other boats are moored at Black Rockand at Batten Point and counts of these have also been made. Fishing times for these boats aresimilar to boats launched at the ramp.

During October 2009 there were very few overnight trips recorded during boat ramp surveys.This was likely due to the strong winds (figure 2) that prevailed during that month. Howeverduring boat ramp surveys in May 2010 there were 0-7 trailers at the ramp overnight indicatingthat there were a number of overnight trips. The weather at the time was suitable for overnighttrips. Most of the overnight trips were to the offshore islands rather than in the rivers. Only 0-2trailers were at the ramp overnight during November 2010.

Data on houseboat activity is currently being collected and will be included when available.Houseboats are confined to the rivers with most houseboats anchored overnight in the lowerreaches of McArthur River or Johnson River (known locally as Crooked Creek).


Figure 6: Profile of daily trailer counts (and standard deviation) at the King Ash bay boat ramp

Figure 7: Start and finish times for trips from King Ash Bay boat ramp

KING ASH BAY BOAT RAMP USAGE

-5

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354:00

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12:00

13:00

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TIME OF DAY

NUMBEROFTRAILERS

FISHING TRIP START AND FINISH TIME

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4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

TIME OF DAY (hr)

NUMBEROFTRIPS

Start time

Finish time

2 per. Mov. Avg.(Start time)2 per. Mov. Avg.(Finish time)


6. WHERE DO THEY GO FISHING?

A general fishing location was recorded for each fishing trip. On many trips it was notuncommon for fishing to occur at a number of locations. For those trips the most distant ormost fished location was recorded as the fishing location. A total of 1,305 trips have a fishinglocation recorded.

Data for winter (28 trips) and summer (26 trips) need to be treated with caution due to the lownumber of trips for those seasons. Total fishing trips over summer were low due to the wetseason, cyclones and flooding.

Most fishing trips are to estuary locations with less than 10% of trips in most seasons being tooffshore locations as shown in figure 8. Trips to offshore locations are particularly influenced bywind speed (figure 2). There were a greater proportion of offshore trips during spring 2010 aswinds were more favourable. The distance to offshore fishing locations and the numerous safeovernight anchorages around the island allow overnight trips. During suitable weather thereare numbers of overnight trips, especially during autumn and winter.

Figure 9 shows the number of fishing trips to the main rivers and creeks. The McArthur River isthe most fished location with 42.8% of all trips in the river. Crooked Creek (Johnson River) isthe second most popular location with 9.8% of all trips. These 2 locations account for over50% of the total effort. Both of these are also preferred locations for houseboats so the fishingeffort there is probably even higher than indicated. Overall trips to offshore islands account for6.7% of trips.

The high number of trips to both the McArthur River and Crooked Creek are partly becauseboth these are accessible at any stage of the tide. Many of the other locations have accessrestrictions around the low tide and this deters many fishers, particularly those that are notfamiliar with the area.

Figure 8: Destination for fishing trips by season

TRIP DESTINATION

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70

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Winter 2009 Spring 2009 Summer2009-10

Autumn2010

Winter 2010 Spring 2010

%OFTRIPS

estuariesoffshore


Figure 9: Locations of fishing trips

There is some level of shore based fishing, primarily in the area from King Ash Bay to BattenPoint. This is mostly carried out by visitors without a boat. Most of these are southern visitorsthat go to the area with a caravan. The shore based fishing mainly occurs during the winterand early spring months. These fishers are generally less skilled than the boat fishers andcatch rates are generally very low.

FISHING LOCATION

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Wearyan River

Warren Inlet

Mule Creek

Chadwick Creek

Other

Batten Creek

Lousey Creek

Sharker Creek

Curie Channel

Twin Creeks

Rutherford Creek

Dugong Creek

Davies Channel

Kelly Channel

Offshore Islands

Carrington Channel

Crooked Creek

McArthur River

NUMBER OF TRIPS


7. WHAT IS THE FISHING EFFORT?

Effort and catch data have been collected by obtaining details of fishing trips, either throughboat ramp surveys or from fishers volunteering their fishing trip details. A standard form wasused to collect details of a trip. Data collected includes:

Date of tripNumber of fishersBoat ramp usedHome townTime left the boat rampTime returned to boat rampLocation fishedSpecies caught and numbers kept and releasedLength of fish if measured

Season

KABcountdays

KABramptrailers

KABmoored

KABlandbased

BlackRock

BattenPoint

MuleCreekramp

Borrol-oolaramp

winter 2009 70 15.6 23 8 2 1.5 0spring 2009 89 20.5 1 0 6.3 3.7 3 0summer 2010 47 0 Little or no fishing activityautumn 2010 91 19.2 10.8 1.2 0.5 2winter 2010 55 13.3 33.8 9.5spring 2010 20 14.3 1.7 1 5.2 1.3 2

Table 1: Unadjusted estimate of trips per day from each location

Season

Numberoftrips

MedianTripLengthhours

MedianNumberof

fishers

FishingEfforthours

NoCatchtrips

TripsBarracaught

winter 2009 28 6.4 2.0 12.8 6 6spring 2009 315 8.0 2.0 16.0 66 165summer 2010 26 8.0 2.0 16.0 5 18autumn 2010 486 8.3 2.0 16.6 102 203winter 2010 279 7.0 2.0 14.0 42 145spring 2010 208 9.1 2.0 18.2 8 164Total 1345 229 701

Table 2: Summary of trips each fishing season

Table 1 provides an estimate of the unadjusted number of trips from each fishing location foreach season. Only the estimated numbers of trips from the KAB boat ramp are reliable as theyare based on a sufficient number of days of trailer counts. Trailer counts at the ramp have beenobtained on 372 days. The estimated number of trips from the boat ramp will be adjusted toobtain a more reliable estimate of the total trips per day. The estimates for other locations areconsidered to be indicative only as there were only a small number of days of observations.

Table 2 provides a summary of the effort and catch for fishing trips each season. Of the 1,345trips 229 (17.0%) reported no fish caught. Of total trips 701 (52.1%) trips reported catching atleast 1 Barramundi while in spring 2010 there were 164 (78.8%) trips that caught Barramundi.


8. WHAT IS THE CATCH?

Catch data have been collected from details of fishing trips, either through boat ramp surveysor from fishers volunteering their fishing trip details. Catch was determined as the number offish caught and the number of fish kept per trip. Catch rates were adjusted to a typical fishingtrip to allow catch rates to be compared for each season. A typical fishing trip was 2 fishersfishing for 8 hours.

Data for winter (28 trips) and summer (26 trips) need to be treated with caution due to the lownumber of trips for those seasons. Total fishing trips over summer were low due to the wetseason, cyclones and flooding.

Table 3 provides a summary of the fish caught and released on trips each season. Of the 8,216fish caught on the 1,345 trips 2,484 (30.2%) were kept. Of the 2,595 Barramundi that werecaught 675 (26.0%) were kept.

Catch rates for fish caught and kept each season are shown in figure 10. Overall catch rateshave increased over the 6 seasons from around 4 to 7 fish/trip. The number of kept fish hasfluctuated from around 2 to 3 fish/trip.

Barramundi catch rates are shown in figure 11. Catch rates for Barramundi caught in spring2010 were significantly higher than in the previous 5 seasons. For Barramundi kept the catchrate has remained steady ranging from around 0.5 to 1 fish/trip.

Barramundi as a percentage of the catch is shown in figure 12. In spring 2010 Barramundiwere 52.0% of the catch and were 36.8% of the kept catch.

Table 3: Summary of fish caught on trips each season

Season

Numberoftrips

TotalFishcaught

TotalFishkept

Barracaught

Barrakept

winter 2009 28 106 62 9 6spring 2009 315 1728 725 524 153summer 2010 26 126 64 39 23autumn 2010 486 2730 1689 496 209winter 2010 279 1548 626 488 112spring 2010 208 1978 467 1029 172Total 1345 8216 2484 2595 675


Figure 10: Adjusted catch rates per fishing trip each season

Figure 11: Catch rates of Barramundi each season

ADJUSTED CATCH RATES

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Winter 2009 Spring 2009 Summer09/10

Autumn 2010 Winter 2010 Spring 2010

averageadjfish/trip

caughtkeptPoly. (caught)Poly. (kept)

BARRAMUNDI PER TRIP

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6



fish/trip

caughtkeptPoly. (kept)Poly. (caught)


Figure 11: Barramundi as a percentage of the catch for each season

Table 4 shows the top 15 species caught on all trips over the 6 seasons. Barramundi is themost caught species. Golden Snapper is the second most caught species and Forktail Catfishthird with most of those released. The Catfish kept are mostly kept for crabpot bait.Blackspotted Rockcod, Mud Crab and Blue Threadfin are the next most caught species.

Table 4: Top 15 species recorded in catches (all seasons)

SPECIES Caught KeptBARRAMUNDI 2595 675GOLDEN SNAPPER 624 449FORKTAIL CATFISH 587 21BLACKSPOTTED ROCKCOD 524 186MUD CRAB 486 351BLUE THREADFIN 459 345BARRED JAVELIN 425 255QUEENFISH 398 186PIKEY BREAM 289 156GOLDSPOTTED ROCKCOD 283 56GRASS EMPEROR 268 213MANGROVE JACK 233 156BLACK JEWFISH 124 91TREVALLY 99 71BLUELINED EMPEROR 75 72

BARRAMUNDI PERCENTAGE OF CATCH

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60



%Barramundi

% caught% keptPoly. (% caught)Poly. (% kept)


9. BARRAMUNDI TAGGING

Due to the delay in starting the project Barramundi tagging did not commence until October2009. Tagging kits were made up and provided to local and visiting volunteer fishers to assistwith the tagging.

Tagging kits contain the following:

Tagging applicator and tagsWaterproof tagging record book to record tag detailsMeasuring rulerInformation folder with forms to lodge fishing trip and tagging details

Tagging has been carried out by:

Infofish AustraliaMembers of King Ash Bay Fishing ClubVisiting volunteer fishersNT Fisheries during electrofishing survey

A series of grid maps were produced covering the project area to allow easy identification oflocations where fish were tagged. Figure 12 shows the maps covering the project area whilefigure 13 shows one of the individual maps with the grid. Locations are recorded using the mapand grid code eg KAB (map) Q7 (grid) which is the mouth of the McArthur River.

The King Ash Bay Fishing Club has offered a reward of $25 for the reporting of recapturedetails. A certificate for each recapture is provided to both the person that recaptured the fishand the person that tagged the fish. Feedback is also provided by email if an email address isavailable.

Figure 12: Tagging grid maps covering the project area


Figure 13: Tagging map showing the grid for locations where fish are tagged

Figure 14: Barramundi tagged each season

Figure 14 shows the number of Barramundi tagged each season with 1,420 in total to date.Many taggers have provided details of all fish caught on a trip allowing the data to be used forcatch and effort while others have only provided the details of fish tagged.

BARRAMUNDI TAGGED

0

100

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700

winter 2009 spring 2009 summer 2009-10

autumn 2010 winter 2010 spring 2010

FISHTAGGED

Non triptrip


There have been 8 (0.6%) recaptures (table 5) reported to date from fish tagged in theproject. Most fish were recaptured not long after being tagged and in the same area as theywere tagged. Two fish were recaptured over a year after being tagged.

The recapture rate provides an indicative measure of fishing pressure on fish stocks. Thehigher the recapture rate the greater the fishing pressure. By comparison in Queensland in theFitzroy River the recapture rate for Barramundi is 19.3%3.

There have been insufficient recaptures to make any determinations in relation to growth ormovement. Figure 15 shows the distance fish have moved compared to the number of daysbetween tagging and recapture. One fish moved 14km from the mouth of the CarringtonChannel to the mouth of the McArthur River.

Tag Tagger Recaptured byTagdate

Recapdate

DaysOut

TagLength

Recaplength

Growthmm

KA3262 PARSONS W SMITH S 07-Jul-10 10-Aug-10 34 690 700 10KA0286 MILLER R GARVEN R 28-Apr-10 23-Aug-10 117 720 720 0KA3108 HAMEY J SAWYNOK W 28-Apr-10 09-May-10 11 430 440 10KA1259 WATSON S RIUNSEVELL M 09-Oct-09 11-Oct-10 367 490 600 110KA1103 HULM R AHLSTRAND G 10-Oct-09 13-Oct-10 368 580 585 5KA1508 STITT B DRENDEL R 07-May-10 23-Oct-10 169 730 760 30KA4144 ALLSOP Q ALLSOP Q 09-Nov-10 11-Nov-10 2 490 490 0KA4149 ALLSOP Q ALLSOP Q 09-Nov-10 11-Nov-10 2 450 450 0

Tag Tag location Mao Grid Recapture location Map GridDistancemoved

KA3262 LOUSEY CREEK KWR C5 SALT CREEK BAY KWR E3 10KA0286 CARRINGTON CHANNEL KAB N1 MCARTHUR RIVER KAB Q6 14KA3108 MCARTHUR RIVER KAB N9 MCARTHUR RIVER KAB O9 0KA1259 BATTEN CREEK KAB C9 BATTEN CREEK KAB D8 3KA1103 RUTHERFORD CREEK KAB S9 RUTHERFORD CREEK KAB R10 4KA1508 THE FLETCHERS KAB P13 THE FLETCHERS KAB P13 0KA4144 MCARTHUR RIVER BOR S15 MCARTHUR RIVER BOR S15 0KA4149 MCARTHUR RIVER BOR S15 MCARTHUR RIVER BOR S15 0

Table 5: Details of recaptures of tagged fish

Figure 16 shows the locations where fish have been tagged. There were 1,385 Barramunditagged with the map/grid recorded. There were 124 map grids where Barramundi have beentagged with the greatest number of Barramundi being tagged in grid Q6 on map KAB, which isthe mouth of the McArthur River. There were 2 grid locations where 100 or more fish weretagged and 6 grid locations where 50-99 fish were tagged.

Google Earth has become a tool that is commonly used by recreational fishers. While figure 16is a static image anyone with Google Earth can view this and other data interactively. We arecurrently developing our ability to link our database to Google Earth so that we can providenew ways of presenting the data to researchers, managers and the community.

3 Suntag Research Report 2009/10


Figure 15: Distance moved compared to time between tagging and recapture

Figure 16: Grid locations where Barramundi have been tagged

DISTANCE BARRAMUNDI MOVED

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14

16

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400DAYS OUT

DISTANCE(km) Moved from mouth of Carrington

Channel to mouth of McArthur River

Moved from Lousey Creek to SaltCreek Bay


As well as the Barramundi tagged as part of this project, there are 2 other projects that havetagged Barramundi adjacent to the project area. These are:

North Australia Freshwater Fish project (James Cook University)McArthur River Mine Monitoring project

We will attempt to access and aggregate data from the 3 projects and present as complete apicture as possible of tagging relevant to this project.

Figure 17: Recaptures of fish tagged in the Calvert River in 2007

There have been 4 recaptures from tagging as part of the North Australia Freshwater Fishproject in 2007. These fish were tagged in the Calvert River. Two of the recaptures were in theCalvert River while 2 were recaptured in the project area (figure 17). This indicates that thereis some westward movement of Barramundi in the area.

There have been 3 recaptures of fish tagged as part of the McArthur River Mine monitoringproject. One was recaptured at the mouth of the McArthur River in August 2010 and 2 wererecaptured by NT Fisheries during their electrofishing survey.

R48257 recaptured

R48198 recaptured

Borroloola

McArthur

River

Calvert River

WearyanRiver

R48198 tagged

R48257 tagged

Documents

KING ASH BAY BARRAMUNDI MONITORING PROJECTinfo-fish.net/king-ash-bay/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/KAB... · Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 5 Report page 2 It was also arranged