June 30, 2021
Image of Nic Tribonias from the Mulloway Tagging Victoria Facebook group
The Nature Glenelg Trust‘s Mulloway tagging project is investigating broad-scale movement patterns of mulloway across Victoria and interstate.
The citizen science project aims to tag 2000 mulloway through offering anglers an opportunity to practice catch and release fishing while helping to increase knowledge on mulloway. Gaining an understanding of the connectivity and movement patterns of mulloway between estuarine nursery habitats and marine waters will help to paint a picture of their population structures and the species life history.
The latest recapture in June, caught by Nic Tribonias (pictured above), was the first tagged mulloway recorded from the Maribyrnong River. The fish was tagged over a year ago 5km away in the Yarra River around Docklands by Steve Kovacevic (shown below). During the past 395 days, the fish grew by 16.5cm (from 66cm to 82.5cm). After a quick photo, the fish was released.
In May, the project saw a further 16 mulloway tagged at a number of locations across Victoria and South Australia including 11 from the Glenelg, two from the Patterson, one from the Yarra, one from the Hopkins and one from Beachport SA.
During May, recaptures were recorded by recfishers for the Yarra River and Patterson River. In the Yarra, a 66cm mulloway was recaptured by Nic Tribonias only a few weeks after it was initially tagged by Steve Kovacevic. The fish was caught 4km downstream from where it had been tagged.
A Patterson River mulloway was tagged in 2019 by Shaun Mulcahy and recaptured in March 2020. In May, this fish was caught for a third time, by Julian Straub, and had grown from 65cm to 82cm over the two years.
Keep an eye out for tagged mulloway along the Victorian coast and estuaries as the mulloway tagging project continues to record new recaptures! If you do catch a tagged fish, make sure you report the recapture back to the contact on the tag to contribute valuable data to the project.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the mulloway tagging project, contact Lauren Brown from Nature Glenelg Trust via the Mulloway Tagging Victoria Facebook group.
The Mulloway Tagging Project is funded by your recreational fishing licence fees.
