RECREATIONAL fishers have been doing a fantastic job tagging mulloway across Victoria, with 450 fish now tagged as part of the Victoria Mulloway Tagging Project…and the Glenelg River is a hotspot.
There have been 64 recaptures of tagged fish, with seven recaptured twice. Warrnambool angler, Luke Gercovich caught this mulloway in the Hopkins River at 80 cm. One year later, Tim Vincent (pictured) caught it again, measuring 102 cm.
Though this fish didn’t travel far, it’s becoming characteristic to see mulloway leave the Glenelg River in the lead up to summer to breed at sea, then return to the estuary the following autumn. Additionally, one mulloway took a ‘round trip’, moving from the Glenelg River to Browns Bay in South East SA, before returning to the river where it was first tagged.
This project is halfway through and will continue for another 18 months. There’s currently no need for more taggers, but it’s hugely helpful to record the details of any tagged mulloway you catch. Keep an eye out for the yellow tag, often placed along the top of the body, just below the 4th dorsal spine. The tag will have a phone number and email address to report the capture.
Great work by organiser Lauren Brown at Nature Glenelg Trust!
Keen to learn more? Click HERE or contact Lauren at lauren.brown@natureglenelg.org.au to sign up for email updates.
