P14 - FISH & BOAT, April 2019 Fishing Mackay Peacock Bass Update By Luke Galea So instead of the juvenile barramundi ium fish in Australia, and it is likely tthatt running the gauntlet in the estuary, they the fish that have so far been captured in You would have had to have beenmove upstream against the flow in or-Mackay were deliberately released, most living under a rock to not hear der to access freshwater environments. likely by uneducated and careless fisher- about the recent peacock bass in- These freshwater environments are safe- man who wanted to catch one of these cursions in Mackay. Whilst Mackay canhavens for these fish as there are far lessfish. They are on my bucket list too, but boast some world class sports-fishingpredators than the estuary as well as anI would fly to the Amazon to catch one. in some amazing locations, the tag ofabundance of food and refugial habitat.All this has done is jeopardise our native having the first Australian wild-caught The barramundi spend a few years infish species who will no doubt suffer sig- peacock bass is not a good one to have. these freshwater environments beforenificantly due to their presence here. The Firstly, a lone peacock bass was caught the majority move back out the estuary scary thing is that there are rumours that in the Pioneer River below Dumbleton(at roughly 30-50cm) to complete theirdozens of these fish have been released in weir by a young Mackay fisherman inlifecycle (although there are exceptionsmultiple locations. I am not one for ru- January 2018. Then, just over 12 months where the barramundi stay longer). mours or gossip but seldom-few people later (2 months ago now) another 2 re- and feed voraciously on just about any-Peacock bass are extremely predatoryknow the indefinite truth, and they are ports came from young anglers catching remaining tight-lipped, obviously shit them at the Gooseponds, North Mackay.thing they can fit in their mouth. scared of the massive ruckus their actions Peacock bass are a large and extremely If they establish in these freshwater have caused. Something else of concern aggressive, exotic fish species native to “safe-havens” then our barramundi andare some of the comments on social me- the Amazon basin in South America.other natives will have to contend withdia regarding these fish. If they establish in ...they (peacock bass) will have a these predators There are certainly some individuals theregion, they will when they are at that think it’s great these fish are here have a disastrous disastrous and irreversible impacttheir most vulner-which makes me livid. The release of and irreversible im- on recreational and commerciallyable, 4cm in length.these fish is environmental vandalism atJack McCann with the second peacock bass. pact on recreational important fisand hspecies like barra-These fish will havea devastating im- its worst.Twelve months ago, following the first commerciallymundi, mangrove jack,sea mullet, important fish spe-sooty grunter and jungle perch...pact on future bar-capture at Dumbleton weir, the State cieslike barramundi, elease of these f ramundi stocks. Government commissioned the guys at mangrove jack, sea The r ish is envi- Although native Catchment Solutions to undertake inten- mullet, sooty grunter ronmentalvandalismat its worst.to the Amazon ba-sive electro-fishing surveys below Dumb- and jungle perch sin, peacock bass leton, Marian and Mirani weirs. No pea- (not to mention the countless dozens ofhave indeed spread to neighbouringcock bass were found in that round of less iconic but vitally important, smaller catchments within South America. Insurveys. After the 2 most recent captures native fish species). these neighbouring catchments, theyat the Gooseponds and some “gentle” per- To try and shed some more detail onhave caused an 80% reduction in nativesuasive words by the local fish stocking why they are such a threat, I’ll speak di- fish populations within only a 2 year pe- group and others, the Department of Ag- rectly about their direct threat to barra- riod. Additionally, I have read that mos- riculture and Fisheries (DAF) commis- mundi – an iconic species we all love and quito-borne diseases have really flared sioned Catchment Solutions to undertake idolise. Large barramundi spawn in the up in areas where these fish have become a further 2 days of electro-fishing at the salt water around river mouths, coastal established as the peacock bass prey on Gooseponds. It was here where 2 mature headlands and inshore islands during the all the smaller fish which keep mosquito male peacock bass measuring 39cm and wet season. The estuary is a rough place wrigglers under control. This could have 42cm were captured. when you are a small 3-4cm barramundia real community impact for us here also.In an attempt to try and nip this threat with its abundance of predators. Peacock bass are also a popular aquar- in the bud before it becomes a major is- sue, pro-active community groups like the Mackay Recreational Fishers Alliance (MRFA) have offered a $50 bounty on these fish. I commend their pro-active ap- Matty Moore with one of the Peacock Bass elec- proach. Their social media post reached tro-fished from the Gooseponds, North Mackay. over 180,000 people and was shared over 1,300 times from MRFA’s Facebook page alone. Clearly, this signifies the im- Peacock bass were fin-clipped for species portance of this issue. Some people may identification and stomach contents examined. think $50 is not a lot of money and it’s 5 partly digested fish were found in each bass not, but that’s not the point of it. There showing that they are voracious predators. are reasons for this and a couple of other fail-safe’s that must be abided by for this approach to work. Firstly, the captured peacock bass needs to be at least 30cm in length. This stops people breeding up their smaller aquarium fish and cashing them in. The reason for the amount be- ing $50 is because the bounty had to re- main lower than what you can currently purchase peacock bass fingerlings for in a pet shop, otherwise, people could pur- chase small fish at X amount (roughly 610 TERRITORY LEGEND 570 RENEGADE CENTRE CONSOLE $120 each) and then cash them in for the higher amount with a higher bounty. FEATURING UNMATCHED STABILITY AT REST AND A FAVOURITE AMONG KEEN FISHERMAN, THE QUINTREX There is a bounty duration of 3 months. UNDERWAY WITH THE BLADE HULL AND FLARED BOW 570 RENEGADE CENTRE CONSOLE WITH YAMAHA This is to stop people purchasing small COMBINATION. WITH A POWERFUL YAMAHA COMBO. OUTBOARD, IS LARGE ENOUGH FOR THE FAMILY & MORE. QUINTREX HULL TRAILER & REGOYAMAHA COMBO QUINTREX HULL TRAILER & REGOYAMAHA COMBO fish and growing them up to cash in. A fingerling purchased will take much long- Electro-fishing surveys taking place. er than 3 months to reach 30cm in size. Finally, genetic DNA and otolith testing will be undertaken on each fish in order to ascertain whether it grew up in a tank or in the wild. The recent capture of a pea- cock bass in the Gooseponds combined with its location in the heart of Mackay’s urban footprint indicates further inves- tigations throughout this wetland are warranted. Unfortunately, peacock bass 510 CRUISE ABOUT 481 TOPENDER are not listed under the Biosecurity Act, so there are very limited laws in dealing A GREAT FAMILY BOAT, WITH THE LEGENDARY POWERFULFEATURING REDESIGNED SLIMLINE ALLOY SPORTS with them. They are not included on the YAMAHA OUTBOARD, THIS BOWRIDER IS A BOAT TO BE CONSOLE, A LIVE BAIT TANK, FISH FINDER, REAR LADDER, ENJOYED BY THE WHOLE FAMILY. RADIO & 70 LITRE FUEL TANK & YAMAHA OUTBOARD. Import exclusion list, so they are not le- QUINTREX HULL TRAILER & REGOYAMAHA COMBO QUINTREX HULL TRAILER & REGOYAMAHA COMBO gally allowed to be brought into Australia ERS anymore but progeny bred in Australia GE OFTRAIL can still be sold. In my opinion, rules and regulations regarding the sale of these fish needs to be scrutinised far more closely; FOLLOW US /billsmarinecairns CALL US (07) 4051 6733 otherwise, the Government could spend tens of thousands of dollars of tax-payers CAIRNS VISIT US Cnr Lyons & SpenceSt ONLINEwww.billsmarine.com.au money on electro-fishing surveys and at- tempted eradication, only for some un- scrupulous individual to go purchase and release a bunch more next week. RO N E GS RI AT LE INIINSSTNTNOOOOCWCWWKK INIINSSTNTONO OOCWCKWWK AN