Bass Restocking Application Refusal

[Peter_J]

G'day Guys,

After successfully restocking our local river with Bass for the last four years our Club/Council have just received advice from NSW Fisheries that our application this year has been declined. :shock:

Not only will NSW Fisheries not assist with their Dollar for Dollar funding but will also not issue a permit at all for restocking should we wish to proceed with the purchase fingerlings. Despite having $5,000 from Council to purchase fingerlings we are now allowed to put the fingerlings in the river :shock: :shock:

The document being applied to come to this decision is a draft "Bass Restocking Policy" that I'm trying to get a copy of. I'm putting together a submission to hopefully get Fisheries to reconsider before we lose a year from our restocking program. We've developed an excellent relationship with the local Council who have committed dollars to our restocking program over the next (at least) five years and to date have had a similarly good relationship with Fisheries who have helped us out with funding. We'd like to continue this.

Fisheries seem to support the restocking of dams however seem to neglect the natural habitat of the Bass where numbers, for other reasons may be low, and needing a boost through restocking. Rather than put them in a dam (akin to a fattening paddock) we's rather see them in a river where they at leat have a chance of reproducing. We don't have the luxury of a public dam in our backyard and therefore wish to continue stocking the river.

Have any other stocking groups (in NSW) similarly had their applications knocked-back? I know of at least two other refusals and would be interested to know if you guys plan any sort of reply to NSW Fisheries

PJ

[lordy]

It may be NSW fisheries are trying to preserve as much of the wild genetics as possible. Stocking with introduced bass might overpower the existing native bass genetics. I can't think of too many other reasons. Be worth looking at the document.

[NQCairns]

Lordie it's a bit late to preserve wild fish genetics, the horse has bolted.

Peter did they give an explanation? A lot of fisheries decisions are just some fool with the power objecting out of course. Kick up a political and paperwork/media stink it's the only way to make those more realistic/better/moral managers around and above your particular fisheries masters take some notice and question the justification for the knockback.

Believe it or not but I have known personally some in fisheries (with some power) who believe that there should be no rec fishing because they just dont give a crap and it would make there job easier . You might be up against one of these, who found a small crevice to try and prise open. good luck.nq

[SeaHunt]

Just dam the river - easy.

[Kerry]

Just dam the river - easy. #

What you mean there's actually a river that's got a dam site left . Wasn't there a policy to build as many dams/weirs on any/every river in a quest to stuff the river as quick as possible while providing water to the masses

Cheers, Kerry.

[Fitzy]

Was recently speaking to a policy fellow from NSW fisheries. He told me that no new stocking was going to be permitted in NSW.
I strongly believe it has to do with genetic diversity.

Lordie it's a bit late to preserve wild fish genetics, the horse has bolted.

Not so. If that system has no large scale stocking previously, then its pretty safe that the genetics in that catchment aren't uncorrupted to a point of no return. I believe that "most" bass stocked in NSW come from Qld (someone correct me if I'm wrong) & if that is the case, its a fair bet that these bass are Noosa River strain as most Qld hatcheries get thier brood stock from the Noosa. (Qld's only non-corrupted system).
The precautionary principle is going to be used more & more as time passes; if they dont know 100% that the genetics in that system AREN'T unique then the principle says dont allow it until it is known. That means a full blown survey costing hundreds of thousands of $$$.

Peter, the way around it, is to make an arrangment with a hatchery operator to source brood stock from that river. It blows the genetics argument away, no need for a survey.
We're going to have to do exactly that with any stocking of mullet in my area (Brisbane catchment). Only way around it.
Dont be discouraged, keep at it & good luck.

Fitzy..

[Peter_J]

Fitzy,

Thanks for the info and also for shifting me into the correct forum.

For the purposes of restocking, NSW is divided into three areas North, Central and Southern. To restock in any of those areas the brood stock have to be sourced from within that zone so whilst the brood stock may not necessarily come from the same river you are restocking, they are from nearby. The northern zone may very well be using brood stock from some Qld rivers however in the zone we are restocking our fingerling supplier is using brood stock from NSW rivers located to the south of us.

The question of genetics is the obvious argument against restocking however I think they (ie those against restocking)have two concerns. One argument is that you are introducing genetics from another area and mixing with the current fish. What detriment to the existing fish stocks this creates I'm not quite sure ?? Bass are migratory and whilst we acknowledge that they come down to the estuary to spawn who is to say that they then don't travel up another river and mix with those fish. I don't think it would be unreasonable for a Bass spawning in our river to then return up one of the other rivers located to the north or south of here ??

The other argument is that each year we are introducing 30,000 brothers and sisters into a river system and the concern is what is going to happen when these brothers and sisters later spawn ?? Again I'd imagine that this would occur naturally in a river with so few breeding females anyway. NSW Fisheries have unfortunately created this problem by limiting the number of fingerling suppliers from which we can chose. We only have the choice of two suppliers in this zone and whilst they mix up their brood stock each year it would be nice to be able to use a few other suppliers or increase the number of available brood stock.

I'm planning an approach to NSW Fisheries along the lines of sourcing local brood stock for use in our restocking. We have considered this in the past however there were never any previous concerns with using brood stock from neighbouring rivers according to the then Fisheries guidelines hence we never needed to use fish from our river. Now that it seems such a big concern (ie to the extent we are not permitted to restock our own river) this seems to be our only course of action

PJ

[Fitzy]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for filling in the gaps for me.
Sounds like your doing the right things.
I think another path to follow could be to do their devils advocate work for them.
Ask yourself a few questions like:
Why is there a need to stock fish in that waterway?
Examples could be;
-barriers to migration
-low recruitment due to poor water quality
-regulated flows from upstream impoundments
-temperature polution from water releases from upstream lakes
-degrated nursury areas for juvenile fish
-lack of suitable spawning locations due to habitat modification
-pressure from introduced fish

I can tell you that they might want info like this & it will actually HELP your cause if there is evidence of the above things interfering with, or upsetting the fishes ability to spawn/grow on a regular basis.
If you want to stock simply to put more fish there to be caught, then I think you might be swimming against the current.

fitzy..