Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 2
KING ASH BAY BARRAMUNDI MONITORING PROJECT
Project name:
King Ash Bay BarramundiMonitoring
Organisation:
Infofish Australia on behalf of KingAsh Bay Fishing Club
MILESTONE NUMBER: 7REPORT PERIOD: JUNE - NOVEMBER 2011MILESTONE DATE: 15 DECEMBER 2011REPORT DATE: 16 DECEMBER 2011REPORT AUTHOR: Bill Sawynok
MILESTONE 7 REQUIREMENTS:
Successful completion of workshop 8 Final report (amended to progress report 7 due to extension of project to December 2012)
- An overview of the project detailing the finding and outcomes of the project.Included in the report will be information on recruitment, growth and movement ofBarramundi in the McArthur River.
Report for the period June 2011 - November 2011 detailing: Expenditure of the funds in milestone 6 (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 7 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.
The following milestone reports have previously been submitted:
Milestone 2 report covered the period June - November 2009 Milestone 3 report was an interim report for the period November 2009 - February 2010 Milestone 4 report covered the period from November 2009 - May 2010 Milestone 5 report covered the period from June - November 2010 Milestone 6 report covered the period from December 2010 - May 2011
The milestone 7 report covers the period from June - November 2011.
There were two site visits by Infofish Australia during this milestone period:
5 - 25 June 2011 (Bill Sawynok and Steve Watson) 25 October - 13 November 2011 (Bill Sawynok and Steve Watson)
During the June visit we attended the King Ash Bay Fishing Club Annual General Meeting toprovide information on the project. There were over 50 persons at the AGM. A presentation onthe project was also provided on 19 June with over 100 persons in attendance. Workshops on
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 3
tagging have been replaced by one-on-one training sessions. There were 10 groups/individualsthat were provided with training and then provided with a tagging kit.
Following the June trip presentations were made in Darwin. On 18 July there was a publicpresentation at the Darwin Museum and Art Gallery with 25 attendees. On 19 July apresentation was made to 10 NT Fisheries staff.
Following the Darwin presentations a meeting was held with NT Fisheries Director of AquaticResources Brian McDonald where it was proposed that the project be extended for a furtheryear and that tagging be extended to include Golden Snapper, due to the uncertainty in theirstock status. NT Fisheries and AFANT were also keen to see the project continue as a steptowards a more comprehensive program being developed for NT for 2013.
During the Oct-Nov visit a presentation was provided on 5 November at King Ash Bay by BillSawynok with over 30 persons present. One-on-one training in tagging and tagging kits wasprovided to 8 groups/individuals.
A third newsletter summarising the results to date of the project was produced in October 2011with 500 copies printed and distributed at King Ash Bay. The newsletter was also provided tothe McArthur River Mine Environment Office and to the Mabunji Sea Rangers.
The project website was established at http://www.info-fish.net/kingashbay/ in May 2011 andhas been upgraded during October-November. Data on fishing effort and tagging have beenpresented on Google Earth to assist with visualising where effort and tagging are occurring. AFacebook page has been added to compliment the website to provide news on the project. Anemail group has also been formed in November which includes anyone interested in theproject. This means that there are a number of different communication tools in use to suit thediffering needs of interested persons.
Additional data that will assist in providing an assessment of Barramundi stocks and fishingeffort is being obtained.
Weather data (wind speed, rainfall and temperature) is being collected each month River flow data for the McArthur River has been obtained (to be updated) Houseboat usage data has been obtained for 2010 and will be obtained for 2011 shortly Barramundi tagging data as part of the North Australia Freshwater Fish survey has been
obtained Barramundi tagging data by McArthur River Mine monitoring program has been obtained Visitor numbers to King Ash Bay will be obtained.
Work has progressed on the Information Centre with the concrete floor laid and work continueson the interior fitout. Work will be disrupted by the upcoming wet season.
An application to extend the project to the end of 2012 was submitted to the MRM CommunityBenefits Trust and was subsequently approved. The Trust also suggested that the Mabunji SeaRangers be approached about involvement in the project. Discussions with Chris Francis ofMabunji Aboriginal Resource Association Inc resulted in an application being submitted to theTerritory NRM Local Grants program for involving Mabunji in the tagging component of theproject. This one year project was also approved.
With the approval of the extension to the project tagging has been extended to include GoldenSnapper and tagging of this species has commenced. While on site in Oct-Nov 100 fin clipswere taken from Barramundi for a James Cook University project which is undertaking agenetics audit across the top end of Australia.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 4
MILESTONE TARGETS
The following targets for data collection were set for the 2 years of the current project:- Details of 3,000 fishing trips from boat ramp surveys and trip sheets- Trailer counts on 400 days- Tagging of 2,000 Barramundi
At the end of November 2011 the following progress has been made towards those targets:- Details of 2,310 fishing trips1 from boat ramp surveys and trip sheets- Trailer counts on 653 days- Tagging of 2,6202 Barramundi
Targets for trailer counts and tagged Barramundi have been exceeded while the number oftrips has not reached the target. This has largely resulted from not being able to recruit anyonelocally to do boat ramp surveys and collect fishing trip details on any regular basis. We havenow recruited 2 persons to assist with collecting trip details.
PROGRESS REPORT
1. PROJECT AREA
The project area is the McArthur River downstream from Borroloola, the McArthur River delta,coastal streams from Bing Bong to the Wearyan River and adjacent offshore islands as shownin figure 1.
Figure 1: McArthur River project area
1 Estimate as some trips have yet to be received2 More fish have been tagged by visiting fishers but the tag details have not been lodged yet
Batten Creek
Borroloola McA
rthurR
iver
Batten Creek
KingAshBay
McArth
ur River
Mul
eC
reek
Tawarrila Creek
Davies Channel
Car
ringt
onC
hann
el
WestIsland
Bing Bong
Warren Inlet
McArth
ur River
Johnson River
The
Fletc
her
Rutherford Creek
Chadwick Creek
Dugong Creek
Wea
ryan
Riv
er
CurieChannel
Kelly Channel
South WestIsland
Centre Island
Black Islet
NorthIsland
Vanderlin Island
PROJECT AREA
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 5
2. FISHING CHARACTERISTICS
Recreational 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 mostly to the approximate 30 residents that remain atKing Ash Bay and Borroloola residents however this is further limited by rainfall and theflow 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 from
all States.5. There is a commercial netting closure that extends from near Bing Bong to Sharker
Point as shown in figure 23 and a closed season to commercial netting for Barramundifrom 1 October to 31 January.
Figure 2: Commercial netting closures adjacent to the McArthur River
Recreational 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.
3Map obtained from http://fishingterritory.com/northern-territory-net-closure-line-maps/
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 6
4. Shore based fishing is carried out between King Ash Bay and Batten Point and atBorroloola.
5. There are 6 houseboats that operate in the river and these cater for up to 6 trailerboats.
6. Wind speed does not significantly influence fishing activity however strong winds canlimit the areas fished to the rivers and affect catch rates.
7. Fishing is mainly a daylight activity from around daylight to dark.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.10. There is indigenous fishing that occurs throughout the area with some concentrated
effort around Borroloola.
3. WHAT INFLUENCES FISHING?
The weather plays a key role in determining fishing effort. The most important factors arerainfall, wind speed and water temperature (particularly for Barramundi). In the McArthur Riverarea rainfall occurs mostly during the wet season from around November to April with little rainduring the rest of the year. This reduces fishing effort during the wet season months tominimal or none at all, particularly during periods of flooding.
Figure 3 shows monthly rainfall at Borroloola and Centre Island4 including the effects ofCyclone Paul in late March and April 2010. Due to the cyclone and heavy rain the King Ash BayRoad was impassable until early May. This resulted in the cancellation of the fishingcompetition that was to be held over Easter and delayed the arrival of visitors.
While there was no cyclone in the area in 2011 the overall rainfall was higher, especially inFebruary and March at Centre Island. This resulted in the road being closed and visitors did notget to King Ash Bay until mid-April.
Figure 3: Monthly rainfall at Borroloola and Centre Island
While rainfall limits access to the area and affects fishing on a seasonal basis wind speedaffects decisions about going fishing on a day to day basis. Strong winds can influence the
4Data on rainfall obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au
BORROLOOLA RAINFALL
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Jun-0
9
Jul-09
Aug-0
9
Sep-0
9
Oct-
09
Nov-0
9
Dec-0
9
Jan-1
0
Feb-1
0
Mar-
10
Apr-
10
May-1
0
Jun-1
0
Jul-10
Aug-1
0
Sep-1
0
Oct-
10
Nov-1
0
Dec-1
0
Jan-1
1
Feb-1
1
Mar-
11
Apr-
11
May-1
1
Jun-1
1
Jul-11
Aug-1
1
Sep-1
1
Oct-
11
Nov-1
1
RAIN
FALL
(MM
)
Borroloola
Centre Island
Cyclone Paul
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 7
decision to go fishing or at least influence the fishing location. Strong winds generally restrictoffshore fishing and limit it to more sheltered river locations.
Data on wind speed have been based on readings at Borroloola and Centre Island5. Generallywind speeds at Centre Island are greater than at Borroloola and significantly more variable ona monthly basis.
Figure 4: Wind speed (and standard deviation) at Borroloola and Centre Island at 9.00am, 3.00pm and number ofdays per month that maximum wind speed exceeded 20 knots (November incomplete)
Most boat fishing trips 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 at Borroloola making travel to fishing destinations easier. Boats generally return to theboat ramp from mid-afternoon onwards when winds ease again. By 3:00pm in most months
5 Data on wind speed obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology website at www.bom.gov.au
BORROLOOLA WIND SPEED
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Jun-0
9
Jul-
09
Aug-0
9
Sep-0
9
Oct-
09
Nov-0
9
Dec-0
9
Jan-1
0
Feb-1
0
Mar-
10
Apr-
10
May-1
0
Jun-1
0
Jul-
10
Aug-1
0
Sep-1
0
Oct-
10
Nov-1
0
Dec-1
0
Jan-1
1
Feb-1
1
Mar-
11
Apr-
11
May-1
1
Jun-1
1
Jul-
11
Aug-1
1
Sep-1
1
Oct-
11
Nov-1
1
WIN
DS
PEED
KN
OTS
9:00am
3:00pm
days max over 20 knots
CENTRE ISLAND WIND SPEED
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Jun-0
9
Jul-
09
Aug-0
9
Sep-0
9
Oct-
09
Nov-0
9
Dec-0
9
Jan-1
0
Feb-1
0
Mar-
10
Apr-
10
May-1
0
Jun-1
0
Jul-
10
Aug-1
0
Sep-1
0
Oct-
10
Nov-1
0
Dec-1
0
Jan-1
1
Feb-1
1
Mar-
11
Apr-
11
May-1
1
Jun-1
1
Jul-
11
Aug-1
1
Sep-1
1
Oct-
11
Nov-1
1
WIN
DS
PEED
(KN
OTS
)
9:00am
3:00pm
days max over 20 knots
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 8
the mean wind speed had dropped back to around 10 knots. While winds are around 10 knotsor less in some months there were a significant number of days when the maximum windspeed exceeded 20 knots.Wind speed at Borroloola shows a seasonal pattern with more days from August - Decemberwhere the maximum wind speed exceeds 20 knots. In 2009 there were more days when themaximum wind speed exceeded 20 knots than in 2010 and 2011. In October 2009 on 29 days(93.5%) the maximum wind speed at Borroloola exceeded 20 knots while in October 2010 thenumber of days was 24 (77.4%) and in October 2011 the number of days was 19 (61.3%).From May - August 2010 there were only 6 days each month (19.3%-23.3%) where themaximum wind speed was over 20 knots. In April and May 2011 there were 8 days (26.7%-25.8%) when the maximum wind speed was over 20 knots.
Based on wind speed as shown in figure 4 winds were lighter from August - November in 2010than in 2009 allowing more flexibility in decisions on where to fish. The number of days thatwinds exceeded 20 knots in 2011 was generally less than in 2010 providing more pleasantfishing conditions.
Water temperature also influences fishing, particularly for Barramundi, however this is only anissue during late autumn and winter. Barramundi activity steadily reduces when watertemperature falls below 22oC and little activity occurs when the water temperature falls below18oC. Water temperatures were not recorded during 2009, while they generally ranged from19-21oC in June 2010 and from 15-19oC in June 2011.
Figure 5: Minimum air temperatures at Borroloola from May-August in 2009-2011
Figure 5 shows the minimum air temperatures at Borroloola from May-Aug from 2009-2011.Minimum temperatures each month in 2011 were lower than those in 2010 and 2009 (exceptfor July). This suggests that Barramundi activity would have been less over winter 2011 than inthe previous 2 years.
Catch rates for Barramundi were lowest in winter 2009, autumn 2010 and winter 2011 (seesection 10) with the winter catch rates influenced by water temperatures.
WINTER AIR TEMPERATURES
0
5
10
15
20
25
2009 2010 2011
YEAR
DEG
REES
CELC
UIS
May
June
July
August
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 9
4. 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 2,187 trips6 where the home town was recorded. Figure 5 shows thenumber of trips undertaken by fishers from each state. A total of 88.4% of trips wereundertaken by visitors to the area with fishers recorded from all States. The greatest numberof fishers came from Queensland undertaking 42.1% of all trips while fishers from NSWundertook 25.8% of trips.
Fishers from the Northern Territory undertook 16.6% 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 (1.5% of trips) have access to recognisedBarramundi fishing locations that are much closer so not many fish at King Ash Bay.
Local fishers are those that live in King Ash Bay and Borroloola and account for 11.6% of trips.Other Northern Territory fishers come from inland areas such as Alice Springs (2.0% of trips)and Tennant Creek (1.1% of trips). Fishing clubs from these areas have established bases atKing Ash Bay and are regular fishers. King Ash Bay is also an important destination for fishersfrom Mount Isa (2.2% of trips) as it is within a day's drive of the city.
Figure 6: Fisher trips at King Ash Bay based on state of origin
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. Thisprovides an estimate of the number of trailers throughout the day.
These trailer counts have indicated that boats leave to go fishing around dawn (4.30-6.30am)with most returning by, or just after, dark (4:30-6:30pm). A profile has been developed on the
6 Trips to end spring 2011
VIC, 9.7%SA, 3.8%
WA, 1.1% ACT, 0.5%
TAS, 0.3%
NT, 16.6%
NSW, 25.8%
QLD, 42.1%
QLD
NSW
NT
VIC
SA
WA
ACT
TAS
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 10
use of the King Ash Bay boat ramp over the course of a day. The maximum numbers of trailersat the ramp are recorded from 9.00am-1:00pm as shown in figure 7.
Figure 7: Profile of daily trailer counts (and standard deviation) at the King Ash bay boat ramp
Figure 8: Start and finish times for trips from King Ash Bay boat ramp
For fishing trips the time of leaving the ramp or mooring and the time returning are recordedso that provides another measure of when fishing trips occur. Times from fishing trips indicatethat most boats are out on the water by mid morning and start returning from midday to lateafternoon as shown in figure 8.
KING ASH BAY BOAT RAMP USAGE
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
4:0
0
5:0
0
6:0
0
7:0
0
8:0
0
9:0
0
10:0
0
11:0
0
12:0
0
13:0
0
14:0
0
15:0
0
16:0
0
17:0
0
18:0
0
19:0
0
20:0
0
TIME OF DAY
NU
MBER
OF
TRAIL
ERS
Trip starting and finishing times
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
4 5 6 7 8 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Time of day (hr)
No
oftr
ips
Start time
Finish time
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 11
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 10-20. Other boats are moored at Black Rock andat Batten Point and counts of these have also been made. Fishing times for these boats aresimilar to boats launched at the ramp.
Fishing around offshore islands often involves an overnight stay, particularly when weatherconditions are suitable. Trailers remaining overnight at the boat ramp have ranged from 0-10however most times the number was 0-5. From 2,290 trips there were 27 trips (1.2%)recorded as being overnight so the overall proportion of overnight trips is low.
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 2,290 trips7 have a fishing location recorded. Most fishing trips are to estuarylocations with less than 10% of trips in most seasons being to offshore locations as shown infigure 9. Trips to offshore locations are particularly influenced by wind speed (figure 4). Thedistance to offshore fishing locations and the numerous safe overnight anchorages around theisland are conducive to overnight trips. During suitable weather there are numbers of overnighttrips, especially during autumn and spring.
Figure 9: Destination for fishing trips by season
Figure 10 shows the intensity of fishing effort based on the primary location for fishingrecorded for trips. The McArthur River is the most fished location with 34.1% of all trips.Carrington Channel is the second most fished location (9.2%) with Crooked Creek (JohnsonRiver) third (7.4%). These 3 locations account for around 50.7% of the total effort (shown in
7 Trips for spring 2011 incomplete
Trip destinations
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
%oftr
ips
estuaries
offshore
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 12
red). These are also preferred locations for houseboats8 so the fishing effort there is evenhigher than indicated. Overall trips to offshore islands account for 7.7% 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 10: Locations of fishing trips
There is some level of shore based fishing, primarily in the area from King Ash Bay to BattenPoint and at Borroloola. At King Ash Bay this is mostly carried out by visitors without a boat.Most of these are southern visitors that go to the area with a caravan. The shore based fishingmainly occurs during the daytime in winter and early spring months. These fishers aregenerally less skilled than the boat fishers and catch rates are generally very low.
The landbased fishing at Borroloola is mainly around the Borroloola crossing and can besignificant when there is a flow in the river.
7. WHAT IS A TYPICAL BOAT 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.
8 Houseboat data will be incorporated into fishing effort once more data are obtained
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 13
Figure 11 shows that the median number of fishers per boat is 2. Boat fishing trips weregenerally around 8 hours in duration with figure 12 showing the median length of trips perseason. Table 1 provides a summary of typical fishing trips each season. Trips during winterare a little shorter and this may be because of shorter daylight hours. Median trip length inspring 2010 was the highest at 9.5 hours. In general terms a typical boat fishing trip at KingAsh Bay can be described as being 2 fishers fishing for 8 hours.
Figure 11: Median number of fishers per boat
Figure 12: Median length of fishing trips
Median fishers per boat
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
Num
ber
offishers
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
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
Sum
mer
Autu
mn
Win
ter
Spring
hours
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 14
Season
Numberof
trips
MedianTrip
Lengthhours
MedianNumber
offishers
FishingEfforthours
per trip
winter 2009 28 6.4 2.0 12.8
spring 2009 315 8.0 2.0 16.0
summer 2010 26 7.5 2.0 15.0
autumn 2010 486 8.3 2.0 16.6
winter 2010 279 7.0 2.0 14.0
spring 2010 208 9.5 2.0 19.0
summer 2011 45 8.0 2.0 16.0
autumn 2011 505 6.0 2.0 12.0
winter 2011 194 8.0 2.0 16.0
spring 2011 176 8.5 2.0 16.0
Total 2262
Table 1: Summary of trips each fishing season
8. HOW MANY FISHING TRIPS?
Boat fishing trips are made from:
King Ash Bay boat ramp Moored adjacent to King Ash Bay boat ramp Moored at Black Rock Moored at Batten Point Mule Creek boat ramp Borroloola boat ramp Boats tied up to houseboats
To estimate how many fishing trips are made trailer counts were made on as many days aspossible. Getting trailer counts at the King Ash Bay ramp was the priority as 90% of the trailerboat fishing trips are from that boat ramp or from boats moored adjacent to the ramp. Figure13 shows the percentage of days when trailer counts were made at that ramp. There have nowbeen 653 days when counts were made at the boat ramp. The only season where trailer countswere low was in spring 2010.
During summer 2010/11 there were virtually no fishing trips in February due to the heavy rainand flooding. During autumn the road was cut until mid-April with very few vehicles able to getthrough so there was little fishing effort until mid-April with a rapid increase in trips numbersfrom that time.
Moored boat counts at Black Rock and Batten Point were mostly made during site visitshowever were included in local counts in winter and spring 2011. A small number of trailercounts were made at the Mule Creek ramp at Bing Bong and at the boat ramps at Borroloola.
Calculating trips each season:
Total trips(day) = trailer count(hour) x 1/CF(hour)
where Correction factor CF(hour) = boats fishing(hour)/total boats(day)
and Boats fishing(hour) = boats(left ramp) - boats(returned ramp)
Total trips(season) = average total trips(day) x days(season)
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 15
Figure 13: Percentage of days each season when trailer counts were made at the King Ash Bay boat ramp
Only the estimated numbers of trips from the KAB boat ramp are reliable as they are based ona sufficient number of days of trailer counts. The estimated number of trips from the boat rampand moored boats were adjusted as shown above to obtain a more reliable estimate of the totaltrips per day.
The estimates for Mule Creek and Borroloola are considered to be indicative only as there wereonly a small number of days of observations however the usage of both ramps is low comparedto the KAB ramp.
Figure 14: One of the houseboats operating out of King Ash Bay
TRAILER COUNTS EACH SEASON
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Winter2009
Spring2009
Summer2009-10
Autumn2010
Winter2010
Spring2010
Summer2010-11
Autumn2011
Winter2011
Spring2011
PERCEN
TAG
E
Non-count days
Count days
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 16
There are 6 houseboats that operate out of King Ash Bay. Houseboats are generally availablefrom April/May through to the end of November. The houseboats are removed from the wateraround the end of November and are not returned to the water until the end of the wet seasonaround mid-late April. Figure 14 shows one of the houseboats that operate out of King AshBay.
Fishing effort associated with these houseboats mainly occurs in April-May after the wet seasonand from August-October. There is little houseboat fishing during winter due to the low watertemperatures which significantly reduces Barramundi catches and limits the attractiveness ofhiring a houseboat. The houseboats can take from 4-12 people and have from 2-6 boats thatuse a houseboat as their base. Some data on houseboat usage were obtained for the 2010season. Data are being sought for the 2011 season which has just finished.
Data were obtained for 4 of the 6 houseboats for 2010 with the boats operating from April/Mayto Sept/Oct. Data obtained were:
Name of houseboat Season of operation Number of persons on boat Number of nights for each trip Location where the houseboat was stationed
Houseboats are taken down the river and moored in the area intended to be fished. With eachhouseboat there were a number of smaller boats attached. The houseboat was used as a basewith fishing being carried out in the smaller boats.
An estimate of the number of fishing trips from houseboats was made. The median of fishersper trip is 2 and this was used to estimate the number of trips. Two nights were subtractedfrom each trip to account for the houseboat travelling to and from the fishing destination.
The estimate of houseboat trips was calculated as:
Houseboat trips = (number of persons*(number of nights - 2))/2
In 2010 for the 4 houseboats where data were available it is estimated that there were 3,466trips. These were analysed on a seasonal basis to get a seasonal estimate of houseboat usage.Table 2 shows the breakdown of the estimate of houseboat trips each season. This was used tocalculate the estimated total number of fishing trips from all houseboats.
Season Houseboats Estimated trips
autumn 2010 4 1960
winter 2010 4 0
spring 2010 4 1506
summer 2010-11 6 0
Total 3466
Table 2: Estimate of the number of fishing trips from houseboats in 2010
It is difficult to estimate the number of shore based trips at King Ash Bay as many fishers castout, prop up their rod(s) and then return to their camp, only attending the rod to rebait or if afish is hooked. The number of "trips" is very low compared with boats trips and is likely to be inthe range of 0-10 per day during the dry season.
At Borroloola the landbased trips are more conventional with fishing mainly for Barramundiusing baits or lures.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 17
9. 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 as shown in figure 16. Data collected includes:
Date of trip Number of fishers Boat ramp used Home town Time left the boat ramp
Time returned to boat ramp Location fished Species caught and numbers kept
and released Length
of fish if measured
Figure 15: Form used to collect fishing trip catch and effort data
Figure 16 shows the estimated number of trips each season. Houseboat trips for 2009 and2011 are preliminary estimates based in the data from 2010. Additional data are being soughtto improve these estimates.
Based on a year being from winter in one year to autumn in the following year table 4 providesan estimate of the number of trips each year. Assumptions that were used in arriving at theestimate were that 50% of the moored boats went fishing each day and 100% of houseboatboats went fishing each day. These estimates are preliminary and will be refined as furtherdata become available.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 18
Figure 16: Estimate of total number of trips each season from winter 2009 to spring 2011
Table 4: Estimate of the total number of trips in each year (winter to autumn)
10. 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 2009 (28 trips), summer 2009-10 (26 trips) and summer 2010-11 (45 trips)need to be treated with caution due to the low number of trips for these seasons. Total fishingtrips over summers were low due to the wet season, cyclones and flooding.
Table 3 provides a summary of the fish caught and released on trips each season. Of the 2,276trips 339 (14.9%) reported no fish caught. Of total trips 1,265 (55.6%) trips reported catchingat least 1 Barramundi while in spring 2010 there were 172 (77.5%) trips that caughtBarramundi.
Of the 14,929 fish caught on the trips 7,063 (47.3%) were kept. Of the 4,268 Barramundi thatwere caught 1,341 (31.4%) were kept. There was 1 trip that exceeded the bag limit where 2fishers kept 12 Barramundi and 26 trips (1.1% of all trips) where 2 fishers kept 5-9Barramundi.
9 Note that the figures for 2011-12 are only for winter and spring with summer and autumn to come
Year Trips
2009-10 15319
2010-11 15535
2011-129 10916
FISHING TRIPS PER SEASON
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000w
inte
r2009
spring
2009
sum
mer
2009-1
0
autu
mn
2010
win
ter
2010
spring
2010
sum
mer
2010-1
1
autu
mn
2011
win
ter
2011
spring
2011
sum
mer
2011-1
2
autu
mn
2012
win
ter
2012
spring
2012
SEASON
FIS
HIN
GTRIP
S
Houseboats
season trips
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 19
Catch rates for fish caught and kept each season are shown in figure 17. Overall catch rateshave fluctuated over the 10 seasons from around 4-15 fish/trip. The number of kept fish hasfluctuated from around 2-5 fish/trip.
Barramundi catch rates are shown in figure 18. Catch rates for Barramundi caught in spring2010, summer 2011 and spring 2011 were significantly higher than in other seasons. ForBarramundi kept the catch rate has remained steady ranging from around 0.2-1.1 fish/trip.
In spring 2010 Barramundi were 51.2% of the catch and were 39.3% of the kept catch while inspring 2011 they were 54.5% of the catch and 31.2% of the kept catch.
Table 3: Summary of fish caught on trips each season
Figure 17: Adjusted catch rates per fishing trip each season
Season
Numberof
trips
Nocatchtrips
TripsBarracaught
TotalFish
caught
TotalFishkept
Barracaught
Barrakept
winter 2009 28 6 6 106 62 9 6
spring 2009 315 66 165 1728 730 462 155
summer 2010 26 5 18 126 69 63 26
autumn 2010 486 102 203 2730 1676 477 208
winter 2010 279 42 145 1548 631 486 113
spring 2010 222 8 172 2007 498 1027 196
summer 2011 45 0 40 461 184 176 49
autumn 2011 505 80 258 3121 2163 556 365
winter 2011 194 19 112 1361 604 206 78
spring 2011 176 11 146 1741 446 806 145
Total 2276 339 1265 14929 7063 4268 1341
CATCH PER TRIP
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
22.0
Winter
2009
Spring
2009
Summer
09/10
Autumn
2010
Winter
2010
Spring
2010
Summer
2010/11
Autumn
2011
Winter
2011
Spring
2011
avera
ge
adjfish/t
rip
caught
kept
barramundi caught per trip
barramundi kept per trip
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 20
Figure 18: Catch rates of Barramundi each season
Table 4 shows the top 15 species caught on all trips over the 10 seasons. Barramundi is themost caught species. Golden Snapper is the second most caught species and Queenfish third.Blue Threadfin, Forktail Catfish, Blackspotted Rockcod and Mud Crab and are the next mostcaught species.
Table 4: Top 15 species recorded in catches (all seasons)
SPECIES Caught Kept
BARRAMUNDI 4268 1341
GOLDEN SNAPPER 1381 908
QUEENFISH 983 426
BLUE THREADFIN 914 640
FORKTAIL CATFISH 880 31
BLACKSPOTTED ROCKCOD 831 336
MUD CRAB 831 645
BARRED JAVELIN 689 416
GOLDSPOTTED ROCKCOD 622 135
PIKEY BREAM 515 325
MANGROVE JACK 470 321
GRASS EMPEROR 387 327
BLACK JEWFISH 282 225
SHARK 226 28
TREVALLY 159 115
BARRAMUNDI PER TRIP
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
Winter Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring
fish/t
rip
barramundi caught per trip
barramundi kept per trip
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 21
9. FISHING COMPETITIONS
The King Ash Bay Fishing Club has a number of fishing competitions throughout the year.There is a monthly competition for the heaviest fish of each species weighed in. There is alsoan annual fishing competition held over Easter which attracts many entries. In 2010 the fishingcompetition was delayed due to Cyclone Paul and it was held on the Anzac Day weekend (24-25 April) instead.
In 2011 there were 2 competitions. One was held on Easter Sunday (24 April) and another onthe May Day weekend (30 April-2 May).
The Easter competition had 50 entries and there were 15 Barramundi weighed in. The Maycompetition had 212 entries with 15 Barramundi weighed in. Surveys were undertaken duringboth competitions and details of 124 fishing trips were obtained. These have been included inthe seasonal analysis. Lengths were obtained from all Barramundi weighed in at bothcompetitions.
11. BARRAMUNDI TAGGING
Due to the delay in starting the project Barramundi tagging did not commence until October2009. Tagging kits (including tagging instructions) were made up and provided to local andvisiting volunteer fishers to assist with the tagging.
Tagging kits contain the following:
Tagging applicator and tags Waterproof tagging record book to record tag details Measuring ruler Grid maps Information folder with forms to lodge fishing trip and tagging details
Tagging has been carried out by:
Infofish Australia Members of King Ash Bay Fishing Club Visiting volunteer fishers NT 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 19 shows the maps covering the project area whilefigure 20 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.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 22
Figure 19: Tagging grid maps covering the project area
Figure 20: Tagging map showing the grid for locations where fish are tagged
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 23
Figure 21: Barramundi tagged each season
Figure 21 shows the number of Barramundi tagged each season with 2,620 fish10 tagged intotal to date. Many taggers have provided details of all fish caught on a trip allowing the datato be used for catch and effort while others have only provided the details of fish tagged.
There have been 39 (1.5%) recaptures reported to November 2011 from fish tagged in theproject. Eleven fish have now been recaptured over a year after being tagged. The longest timebetween tagging and recapture was 714 days (almost 2 years). Eleven fish have beenrecaptured 10km or more from where they were 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%11.
Figure 22 shows the locations where fish have been tagged. There were 2,22612 Barramunditagged with the map/grid recorded. There were 164 map grids where Barramundi have beentagged with the greatest number of Barramundi being tagged in grid Q6 (165) on map KAB,which is the mouth of the McArthur River. There were 5 grid locations where 100 or more fishwere tagged 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 22is a static image anyone with Google Earth can view this and other data interactively. Infofishhas linked the database to Google Earth to provide new ways of presenting the data toresearchers, managers and the community in a more understandable format.
10 More fish have been tagged by visiting fishers but the tag details have not been lodged yet11 Suntag Research Report 2009/1012 Some tag data still to be entered into the database
BARRAMUNDI TAGGED
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
winter2009
spring2009
summer2009-10
autumn2010
winter2010
spring2010
summer2010-11
autumn2011
winter2011
spring2011
FIS
HTAG
GED
Non trip
trip
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 24
Figure 22: Grid locations where Barramundi have been tagged
11. BARRAMUNDI GROWTH
A more detailed analysis of growth will be provided in the final report.
Growth rates were calculated as:
Annual growth rate (mm/year) = (TLR - TLT)/days out*365where
TLR = total length when recapturedTLT = total length when taggeddays out = number of days between tagging and recapture
A preliminary analysis of growth was made for fish that were at liberty for a minimum of 90days. Fish that had negative growth were excluded. There were 34 fish (including 5 fish fromthe MRM Environmental Monitoring tagging) that met these criteria.
The average annual growth rate was 87+61mm which indicates that the growth rate is veryvariable. Figure 23 shows the growth of fish compared to the days out with the trendlineindicating the growth rate over time. A preliminary view of the data suggests that some fishgrow very slowly while there are others that grow faster that average.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 25
Figure 23: Growth of Barramundi compared with days out
12. BARRAMUNDI MOVEMENT
A more detailed analysis of movement will be provided in the final report.
The distance fish moved was calculated using MapInfo GIS or Google Earth software and wascalculated as the shortest distance between the locations where the fish was tagged andrecaptured. There were 44 recaptures (including 5 fish from the MRM Environmental Monitoringtagging) where the distance between tagging and recapture was able to be calculated.
Figure 24 shows the movement of fish tagged compared with the days out. There were 21(47.7%) fish were recaptured in the same area as they were tagged. Of the fish recapturedwithin one year the greatest distance moved was 34km. Fish recaptured after being at libertyfor more than a year showed greater movement with one fish having moved 130km.
Figure 25 shows the movement of some of the fish recaptured. This indicates that fish movebetween different parts of the McArthur River delta system.
GROWTH RATE OF BARRAMUNDI
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
DAYS OUT
GRO
WTH
(MM
)
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 26
Figure 24: Distance Barramundi moved compared with days out
Figure 25: Tagging and recapture locations for fish that moved
DISTANCE BARRAMUNDI MOVED
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
DAYS OUT
DIS
TAN
CE
MO
VED
(KM
)
Batten Creek
Borroloola McA
rthurR
iver
KINGASHBAY
KA4103TAGGED
KA4103RECAPTURED
KA0286TAGGED
KA4763RECAPTURED
TAG LOCATION
RECAPTURE LOCATION
KA1801RECAPTURED
KA0286RECAPTURED
KA4763/KA0173TAGGED
KA3108TAGGED
KA1801TAGGED
KA0121/KA3108RECAPTURED
KA3262RECAPTURED
KA3262TAGGED
KA0121TAGGED
KA0173RECAPTURED
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 27
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 (Indo-Pacific International Pty Ltd)
Access has been provided to these data and aggregated data from the 3 projects will presentas complete a picture as possible of tagging relevant to this project.
There have been 4 (12.1%) recaptures from tagging of 33 Barramundi as part of the NorthAustralia Freshwater Fish project in 2007. These fish were tagged in the Calvert River. Two ofthe recaptures were in the Calvert River while 2 were recaptured in the project area (figure26). This indicates that there is some westward movement of Barramundi in the area.
There have been 5 (2.5%) recaptures of 202 fish tagged as part of the McArthur River Mineenvironmental monitoring project. One was recaptured at the mouth of the McArthur River inAugust 2010 having moved 130km down river and 2 were recaptured by NT Fisheries duringtheir electrofishing survey at Borroloola crossing (figure 27). Another fish tagged aboveBorroloola was recaptured 13km down river below the Borroloola crossing in Oct 2011.
Figure 26: Movement of fish tagged in the Calvert River in 2007
R48257 recaptured
R48198 recaptured
Borroloola
McArthur River
Cal
vert
River
Weary
an
Riv
er
R48198 tagged
R48257 tagged
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 28
Figure 27: Movement of fish tagged in the McArthur River as part of MRM environmental monitoring
12. BARRAMUNDI SIZES
The lengths of Barramundi were recorded for tagged fish and fish were also measured byfishers and provided on their trip forms.
Figure 28: Size range of Barramundi measured and tagged
MR00371MR00472TAGGED
MR00371RECAPTURED
BOROOLOOLA
KINGASHBAY
MR00472RECAPTURED
BARRAMUNDI LENGTHS
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
150:
199
200:
249
250:
299
300:
349
350:
399
400:
449
450:
499
500:
549
550:
599
600:
649
650:
699
700:
749
750:
799
800:
849
850:
899
900:
949
950:
999
1000:1
000
1001:
NUMBER OF FISH
SIZ
ERAN
GE
(MM
) Measured not tagged
Tagged
legal size
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 29
There have been a total of 4,052 Barramundi measured to the end of November 2011. Figure28 shows the size range of measured Barramundi. Of the 2,622 tagged Barramundi measured1,260 (48.1%) were over the legal size of 550mm. Of the 1,430 untagged Barramundimeasured 1,191 (83.3%) were over legal size. Of the 1,430 measured fish there 997 (69.7%)kept that were over legal size or 30.3% of the measured fish that were released were overlegal size. Figure 29 shows a typical tagged Barramundi being measured on a brag mat.
Figure 29: Tagged Barramundi being measured prior to release
13. BARRAMUNDI RECRUITMENT
Juvenile Barramundi are caught in estuaries in throw nets while chasing bait and on rod andline using small baits or lures. An electrofishing survey was undertaken by NT Fisheries toassess recruitment in the freshwater reaches of the McArthur River (see section 11). Lengths ofjuvenile fish were recorded to assess recruitment however it was not possible to get accuratelengths of many of the fish caught in throw nets.
Recruitment refers to juvenile fish that "recruit" to the fishery when they reach legal size. Goodrecruitment occurs when there is good spawning, generally from October - January, followedby above wet season flows that juvenile Barramundi use to access freshwater, which is apreferred habitat for these smaller fish13.
Barramundi are fast growing with fish generally reaching 200-350mm in their first year and400-550mm in their second year. During the third year most fish will have reached legal size14.
13 "Does the quantity and timing of fresh water flowing into a dry tropical estuary affect year-class strength ofBarramundi" Jonathan Staunton-Smith et al, Marine and Freshwater Research 2004:55, 787-797 and "Effects of LocalClimate on Recreational Fisheries in Central Queensland Australia: A guide to the impacts of climate change" WSawynok and J Platten (in press)14 "Age and Growth Studies of Barramundi, Lates calcarifer (Bloch), in Northern Australia" TLO Davis and GPKirkwood, Marine and Freshwater Research 1984:35, 673-689
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 30
River flow data were obtained for the McArthur River at monitoring station G9070121 atBorroloola15 from 2005 to May 2010. Figure 30 shows river flows compared to the length of fishover time. River flow data will be updated in the final report.
Figure 31 shows the juvenile Barramundi recorded to date with the lengths of fish over time.The arrows are indicative of recruits from the past 4 years growing over time. This indicatesrecruitment occurred in each of the years, however there are insufficient data to draw anyconclusions on the level of recruitment each year and how that might be influenced by riverflows.
Figure 30: River flows in the McArthur River and lengths of Barramundi over time
Figure 31: Lengths of Barramundi over time showing recruits for the last 4 years(arrows indicate growth of year class recruits over time)
15 River flow data obtained from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport
KING ASH BAY BARRAMUNDI
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
9/1
1/2
004
9/1
1/2
005
9/1
1/2
006
9/1
1/2
007
8/1
1/2
008
8/1
1/2
009
8/1
1/2
010
8/1
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011
7/1
1/2
012
Date
Fis
hle
ngth
(mm
)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
1100
1200
Riv
er
flow
(GL)
TL
Flow (GL)
legal length
BARRAMUNDI RECRUITMENT
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
18-Dec-08 06-Jul-09 22-Jan-10 10-Aug-10 26-Feb-11 14-Sep-11 01-Apr-12
LEN
GTH
(mm
)
2009
2010 2011
2008
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 31
Figure 32: Locating small juvenile Barramundi is an important part of understanding recruitment
A number of juvenile Barramundi of less that 200mm (figure 32) have been reported caught inthrow nets in the estuaries however no accurate measurements of the lengths of these fishwere available. It is important in understanding recruitment that habitats used by thesesmaller fish are identified. As yet there are insufficient data.
14. ELECTROFISHING SURVEY
NT Fisheries undertook an electrofishing survey from 9-11 November 2010. The survey wascarried out using their standard protocols and all Barramundi captured were tagged andreleased. The survey was carried out in the freshwater section of the McArthur River nearBorroloola, both upstream and downstream from the Carpentaria Highway bridge (figure 33).
A total of 79 Barramundi were tagged during the survey. There were also 2 recaptures of fishthat were tagged during the survey and 2 were recaptures of fish tagged as part of theMcArthur River Mine monitoring program.
Figure 34 shows the size range of fish tagged during the electrofishing survey with most fishbeing 2010 and 2009 recruits and smaller numbers of larger fish. Recruits from the past 2years comprise 77.2% of the fish electrofished.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 32
Figure 33: Site of NT electrofishing survey on the McArthur River at Borroloola
Figure 34: Size range of fish tagged during the electrofishing survey
Batten Creek
KingAshBay
McArth
ur River
Tawarrila Creek
Davies Channel
Car
ringt
onCha
nnel
McArthur River
Johnson River
CurieChannel
Batten Creek
Borroloola McA
rthu
rR
iver
5
6
7
8
14
9
10
11
12
13
15
C
4
3
A B
2
GED F H I J K
BORROLOOLA BOR
L M TPN O Q R S U
ELECTROFISHED BARRAMUNDI
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
250:
299
300:
349
350:
399
400:
449
450:
499
500:
549
550:
599
600:
649
650:
699
700:
749
750:
799
800:
849
LENGTH (mm)
NU
MBER
OF
FIS
H
2010
recruits 2009
recruits
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 33
15. GOLDEN SNAPPER TAGGING
With the extension of the project until the end of 2012 NT Fisheries requested the inclusion oftagging of Golden Snapper. Tagging of this species commenced in October 2011 with 76 fishtagged to the end of November 2011. No recaptures have been reported to date. Figure 35shows a typical tagged Golden Snapper from the area.
Figure 35: Tagging of Golden Snapper was added to the project in October 2011
16. PROMOTION
Infofish Australia has prepared folders that can be handed out to visiting fishers that are willingto provide details of their fishing trips. Tagging kits have also been made up for those willing toassist with the tagging. These have been provided to:
King Ash Bay Office King Ash Bay Service Station King Ash Bay Lodge King Ash Bay Mini Mart
A number of posters have also been placed at strategic locations at King Ash Bay to promoteawareness of the project.
There have now been 16 presentations and 7 workshops held by Infofish Australia. In thecurrent milestone period a further 4 presentations were made by Bill Sawynok in Darwin and atKing Ash Bay.
Workshops have been replaced with one-on-one training sessions as many of the fishinggroups interested in tagging had already been provided with tagging and information kits. Thiswas considered more effective as it provided the opportunity to deal with groups/individuals on
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 34
a one-on-one basis and proved very effective in getting more fishing trip details and animprovement in the quality of the data provided.
A third newsletter summarising the results of the project to date was produced in October 2011(figure 36) and 500 copies were printed and distributed at King Ash Bay. The newsletter wasalso provided to the McArthur River Mine Environment Office and the Mabunji Sea Rangers.
Figure 36: Barramundi News 3 newsletter on the King Ash Bay project
A website has also been established to promote the project at http://www.info-fish.net/kingashbay/ and is currently being upgraded as all Infofish websites are beingrevamped. The website also allows fishers to submit fishing trip details however it is notexpected to be widely used due to the limited number of fishers that have access to theinternet. Figure 37 shows the homepage for the website. The website is now supported by aFacebook page (11 followers) and email group (29 members).
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 35
Figure 32: Home page of King Ash Bay Monitoring website
Figure 37: Home page of the King Ash Bay Monitoring Barramundi website (currently being upgraded)
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 36
16. INFORMATION CENTRE
Work has progressed on the Information Centre with the concrete floor laid and work continueson the interior fitout.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 37
PLANNING FOR MILESTONE 8
A significant difficulty with this project has been finding someone to obtain fishing trip recordsand managing that remotely. A number of people were recruited however have not been ableto successfully undertake surveys.
Infofish Australia decided to use its own staff to collect fishing trip records for the duration ofthe project unless a suitable person could be found. That required that staff visit the site morefrequently than originally proposed however this has been done within the current projectbudget. Staff have been and will be on site at least once in each season (except summer) toensure that we obtain sufficient fishing trip details to obtain an estimate of catch rates for thatseason.
A further attempt to recruit someone to undertake surveys was made in June 2011 and TerriTurner was employed to obtain trips for winter 2011. This resulted in obtaining details of afurther 35 trips, however this has not allowed us to reach the target we have set. Anotherperson, Jane Skewes, was recruited during the Oct-Nov trip to assist with obtaining fishing tripdetails. With two persons collecting trip details is expected that we will be able to get moretrips during the wet season.
Infofish Australia was on site again in winter 2011 from 5-25 June 2011 and in spring from 25Oct - 13 Nov. Data collected during those trips is being incorporated into the database.
Data that will continue to be collected or proposed to be collected in the next milestone period:
Fishing trips Tag and recapture details of tagged fish Trailer counts and moored boat counts Weather data for Borroloola and Centre Island River flow data for the McArthur River will be updated Houseboat usage Visitations to King Ash Bay
Planning for the next milestone will be undertaken once the funding agreement for the projectextension has been completed.
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 38
VARIATION TO MILESTONES
The revised milestones for project are as outlined in table 6. Milestone reports have beenforwarded for milestones 2-5. While some preliminary work was undertaken on the projectfrom June - September 2009, the project did not commence until October 2009 when fundingwas received in September. Therefore the project has effectively been underway for just over ayear and a half.
Milestones dates were revised slightly to allow milestone reporting to coincide with seasons asthese have been used when assessing fishing effort and catch.
As the project was designed as a 2 year project the completion of the project was extended toNovember 2011. The project has now been extended for another year to the end of 2012.Milestone 7 for this project has been amended from being a final report to a further milestonereport. Milestones for the phase 2 project will be added once they are available.
Past milestone are shown in blue with the current milestone shown in green.
# Milestones Amount Required outputs for payment PaymentsReleaseDate
1 Workshop 1 -22 – 26, June2009
$50,000 Executed Agreement 16 June2009
2 Workshop 2 -November2009
$36, 460 Successful completion ofworkshop 1
Report for the period: June2009 – October 2009detailing: Expenditure of the
funds in milestone 1(providing receipts).
Data collection andanalysis (includes thedata for NT Fisheries)on boat ramp surveys,trailer counts, taggingbarramundi, juvenilebarramundi counts,update on the settingup of the educationcentre.
December2009
3 Present anupdate reporton the projectat the MRM –CBT Boardmeeting inFebruary2010
$46, 365 Successful completion ofworkshop 2
Report for the period: June2009 - January 2010detailing: An overview of the
project includingfindings and outcomes
Expenditure of thefunds in milestone 2(providing receipts).
Data collection and
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 39
analysis (includes thedata for fisheries) onboat ramp surveys,trailer counts, taggingbarramundi, juvenilebarramundi counts,update on the settingup of the educationcentre.
Payment for the second and finalyear of activities will be:
(a) subject to the satisfactoryoutcomes of the reviewundertaken in accordance withthese special conditions for thesecond year of the project;
(b) paid in accordance with thereporting periods set out in thework plan provided by InfofishServices to the MRMCBT ProjectOfficer.
4 Workshop 3 -April 2010
$46, 365 Report for the period:November 2009 – March 2010detailing: Expenditure of the
funds in milestone 2(providing receipts).
Data collection(includes the data forfisheries) on boat rampsurveys, trailer counts,tagging barramundi,juvenile barramundicounts, update on thesetting up of theeducation centre.
May 2010
5 Workshop 4 -November2010
$46, 365 Successful completion ofworkshop 3
Report for the period: April2010 – October (November)2010 detailing: Expenditure of the
funds in milestone 3(providing receipts).
Data collection(includes the data forfisheries) on boat rampsurveys, trailer counts,tagging barramundi,juvenile barramundicounts, update on the
December2010
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 40
setting up of theeducation centre.
6 Workshop -Presentation 7
$12, 000 – Fundsbeing for:data collection,management andanalysisprojectmanagementequipment
Successful completion ofworkshop 7
Report for the period:December 2010 – May 2011detailing: Expenditure of the
funds in milestone 4(providing receipts).
Data collection andanalysis (includes thedata for fisheries) onboat ramp surveys,trailer counts, taggingbarramundi, juvenilebarramundi counts,update on the settingup of the educationcentre.
An overview of theexisting barramundifishery in the McArthurRiver. Included in thereport will beinformation onrecruitment, growthand movement ofBarramundi in theMcArthur River.
30 June2011
7 Progressreport
$12, 090 – Fundsbeing for:data collection,management andanalysisprojectmanagementequipment
Successful completion ofworkshop 8
Final Report - An overview ofthe Project detailing thefinding and outcomes of theproject. Included in thereport will be information onrecruitment, growth andmovement of Barramundi inthe McArthur River.
Report for the period: July –November 2011 detailing: Expenditure of the
funds in milestone 4(providing receipts).
Data collection andanalysis (includes thedata for fisheries) onboat ramp surveys,trailer counts, taggingbarramundi, juvenilebarramundi counts,update on the settingup of the education
15December2011
Barramundi Monitoring Project Milestone 7 Report page 41
centre. An overview of the
existing barramundifishery in the McArthurRiver. Included in thereport will beinformation onrecruitment, growthand movement ofBarramundi in theMcArthur River.
Total - $203, 280
Table 6: Milestones for the King Ash Bay project