THE mulloway tagging program run by the NSW Research Angler Program (NSW RAP) and ANSA NSW has yielded many impressive results since it started in March 2014, but they don’t get much more noteworthy than the most recent recapture of a tagged mulloway.
On May 28, keen surf fisher Peter Brodie was fishing just north of the Maroochy River at Mudjimba in southern Queensland when he hooked something that tore off down the beach. After a tense 20 minutes on 12lb line, Peter finally managed to beach a fine 83cm mulloway. It wasn’t until the next day that he noticed what looked like algae sticking out of the fish’s shoulder – on closer inspection the object turned out to be NSW DPI gamefish tag. It had been put there some 551 days earlier by tag program participant Cameron Cronin at Hat Head, on the NSW mid North Coast, on 24 November 2015 when the fish was just 67cm in length.
The fish’s 550km journey from Hat Head to Mudjimba is a record for a mulloway tagged in NSW waters. The epic travels of this fish also serves as another reminder of the excellent data the NSW RAP provides Fisheries NSW for monitoring and managing important recreational fish species.
If you are a passionate fisho and would like to contribute to the ongoing assessment and monitoring of some of our key recreational fish stocks (mulloway, yellowtail kingfish, snapper, dusky flathead and tailor), click HERE or contact the program co-ordinator at research.angler@dpi.nsw.gov.au to learn more.
