March 28, 2024
The Casterton Angling Society, including anglers from the Casterton, Balmoral, Dartmoor and Merino fishing clubs, have captured 102 catfish to help boost populations in northern Victoria.
Following the successful catch and translocation of more than 80 freshwater catfish in November, the Casterton Angling Society, in partnership with the Victorian Fisheries Authority, North Central CMA and Glenelg Hopkins CMA, participated in an invitation-only event last weekend and captured 102 catfish to be relocated to northern waterways.
Tandanus catfish are listed as a threatened native fish species, and while they are found in abundance in the Glenelg River, they are non-endemic to the system. However, they are naturally occurring in the Murray-Darling Basin.
The collected catfish have been translocated to northern Victoria to help re-establish the catfish population that was impacted by the flooding, low dissolved oxygen water levels and fish deaths in spring 2022 and to build surrogate populations in waters with suitable habitat and vegetation.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority, with help from organisations such as VRFish, OzFish, CMAs and Traditional Owners, have released 30 catfish to Lake Sambell near Beechworth, 25 to the Little Murray River near Swan Hill, 17 to Harcourt Park Dam in Bendigo and 30 to Broken Creek near Nathalia.
The Victorian Fisheries Authority are committed to re-establishing more populations of the species and bringing them back in abundance. To do this, it’s expected that there will be more of these events held in the future.
At the same time, the participating anglers from the Casterton Angling Society took the opportunity to eradicate carp from the waterway through holding a carp fishing competition where fishers won prizes for the most carp caught among other categories.
Recreational take of freshwater catfish is prohibited in all parts of Victoria except the Wimmera Basin. Bag and minimum legal size limits apply for freshwater catfish in the Wimmera Basin, view the regulations on the Victorian Fisheries Authority website here.
