Infofish Citizen Science Report...

InfofishCitizenScienceReport2016/17

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InfofishCitizenScienceReport

2016-17

BillSawynokandStefanSawynok

InfofishAustralia

POBox9793FrenchvilleQld4701

PublishedJuly2017

Informationinthispublicationisprovidedasgeneraladviceonly.Forapplicationtospecificcircumstances,professionaladviceshouldbesought.

InfofishAustraliahavetakenallstepstoensuretheinformationcontainedinthispublicationisaccurateatthetimeofpublication.Readersshouldensurethattheymaketheappropriateenquiriestodeterminewhethernewinformationisavailableonaparticularsubjectmatter.

ReportNo:INF-2017-5CoverdesignedbyCreativeAvenue:Weliveinafishingworldofextremechallenges

ãInfofishAustraliaPtyLtd Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereprinted,reproduced,storedinaretrievalsystemortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,withoutpriorpermissionfromInfofishAustralia.


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TableofContents

AcronymsUsedintheReport.......................................................................................4Acknowledgements......................................................................................................5TheInfofishAustraliaTeam........................................................................................11TheSuntagAustraliaTeam.........................................................................................12Whatdoesthefuturehold?.......................................................................................14Summaryof2016-17..................................................................................................15InfofishAustralia’sMissionandStrategies.................................................................16Realtimeinformationfordecisionmaking................................................................16Collectingdatarelevanttodecisionmaking...............................................................19WorkingwiththeCommunity....................................................................................31Innovationindatacollectionandinformationdelivery..............................................40Suntagin2016-17.......................................................................................................51Westagin2016-17......................................................................................................59NorthernTerritoryin2016-17....................................................................................64Wheretoin2017-18?.................................................................................................66

ListofFiguresFigure1:CrystalBowlrealtimedashboardmonitoringBarramundiintheFitzroyRiver 17Figure2:ComparinggrantedrecordfishclaimsmaintainedbyIGFAandANSA 18Figure3:ParetodistributionoftheBarramundicatchintheFitzroyRiveroverthepast10

years 20Figure4:CatchratesperstandardfishingtripintheMackayNetFreeZone 21Figure5:RealtimetrackingofKingThreadfinintheFitzroyRiveraspartoftheNFZ 21Figure6:CrystalBowllivetrackingofBarramundirecruitmentintheFitzroyRiver 23Figure7:CrystalBowllivetrackingofBarramundirecruitmentintheFitzroyRiver2013-1723Figure8:EarlyBarramundirecruitsinJan2017fromaFitzroyRiverwetland 24Figure9:PikeyBream(left)andYellowfinBream(right)recruitsrecordedduringGladstone

recruitmentsurveys 24Figure10:CatchratesofBreamrecruitsovertherecruitmentseason 25Figure11:EstimatednumbersofBassinLakeSamsonvale(mostlikelyandrange) 26Figure12:CrystalBowldashboardlivetrackingofBarramundistockedintheFitzroyRiverin

2015 26Figure13:HourstocatchaBarramundiorfishintheRockyBarraBounty2007-2016 27Figure14:MovementoftaggedfishreleasedattheBoyneTannumHookUp 28Figure15:LivecoverageoftheABTManningRiverEventinMay2017 29Figure16:LargedeadBarramundiintheBoyneRiverafterthespillingofLakeAwoongain

Apr2017 30Figure17:TilapiafromaFitzroyfloodplainlagoon 30Figure18:Suntaggerswebsitehomepage 33Figure19:JoiningSuntaggersthroughtheSuntaggerswebsite 33Figure20:SuntaggerscanpurchaseStarterKitsfromtheSuntagShop 34Figure21:Methodsofreportingrecapturesfrom2000-2020usinga5-yeartimespan 35Figure22:Oneofthenewtagandrecapturecertificates 35Figure23:MickDohnttheinauguralmemberoftheSuntagHallofFame 37Figure24:Suntagdashboard(part)showingTaggingAchievementAwards 37Figure25:NewTaggingAchievementAwardcertificateintroducedin2016 38


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Figure26:Suntagaccreditationavailablethroughonlinetraining 39Figure27:VideoclipsontaggingavailablethroughSuntaggerswebsite 40Figure28:Trackmyfishappsettoimproveandincreasedatacollection 41Figure29:CrystalBowldashboardsetuptoprovideastateoverviewofthedataonDusky

Flathead 42Figure30:Infofishturningdatacollectedintoinformationproducts 43Figure31:GoogleEarthmapshowingfishmovementforthereviewoftheGreatSandy

MarinePark 44Figure32:TagginggridmapsoftheFitzroyRiverinpdfandGoogleEarthformat 45Figure33:Infofishreportson12MileCreekinCentralQueensland 46Figure34:Suntagwebsitehomepage 47Figure35:SuntagFacebookpage 48Figure36:TimelineofSuntagFacebookpostsin2016-17 48Figure37:ImagesoffishstoredintheInfofish2017database 49Figure38:Hallprintfishtagswebsitehomepage 50Figure39:Totalfishaddedtodatabaseeachyearfrom2007-08to2016-17 52Figure40:SummaryofparticipationinSuntagfrom2007-08to2016-17 53Figure41:Fishtaggedandrecapturedeachyearfrom1986-87to2015-16 54Figure42:CategoriesoftaggerparticipationinSuntag2007/08-2016/17 54Figure43:Totalnumbersoftop10speciestaggedandtheirrecapturerate 55Figure44:Recaptureratefrom1985-2017pereach5yearperiod 56Figure45:ParticipationratesinrecreationalfishinginQueenslandfrom1996-2014-RFish

surveys1996-2004andStatewidesurveys2000,2010and2013-14 57Figure46:PercentageofrecapturedtaggedfishreleasedbyrecreationalfishersandSuntag

taggerseachyearcomparedtototalrecapturesforbothgroup 58Figure47:TrendinrecapturesreleasedbyrecfishersforlegalBarramundi,Flathead,

MangroveJackandBass 58Figure48:Trendinuseofhardbodyandsoftbodyluresfrom2002-2017 59Figure49:SummaryofparticipationinWestagfrom2007-08to2016-17 60Figure50:Westagfishtaggedandrecapturedeachyearfrom2007-08to2015-16 61Figure51:Westagkeyspeciestaggedandrecapturerates 61Figure52:WestAustralianDhufishtagged,averagelengthandsizerange 62Figure53:WestAustralianDhufishtaggedatdifferentdepthsandrecapturerates 63Figure54:WestAustralianDhufishtaggedandrecaptureratefromdifferentrelease

methods 63Figure55:Mullowaytagged,averagelengthandsizerange 64Figure56:McArthurRiverMonitoring2012 64Figure57:PartoftheCrystalBowlassessmentofBarramundiintheDalyRiver 65


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AcronymsUsedintheReport

AFANT:AmateurFisherman’sAssociationoftheNorthernTerritory

ANSA:AustralianNationalSportfishingAssociation

ANSAQ:AustralianNationalSportfishingAssociationQldInc

Captag:CapricornTagandReleaseSportfishingClub

FBA:FitzroyBasinAssociation

FFSAQ:FreshwaterFishingandStockingAssociationofQueensland

FQ:FisheriesQueensland

GAWB:GladstoneAreaWaterBoard

GBRMP:GreatBarrierReefMarinePark

GBRMPA:GreatBarrierReefMarineParkAuthority

IGFA:InternationalGameFishAssociation

JCU:JamesCookUniversity

MARFA:MackayAreaRecreationalFishingAlliance

NFZ:NetFreeZone

QDAF:QueenslandDepartmentofAgricultureandFisheries

RBB:RockyBarraBounty

RRC:RockhamptonRegionalCouncil

RUF:RecreationalUseFee

SA:SuntagAustraliaInc

SEQwater:SouthEastQueenslandWater

T20fishers:Fishersinthetop20%offishersthatcatch80%ofthefish

TAA:TaggingAchievementAward

TEA:TaggingExcellenceAward

WAFF:WestAustralianFishingFoundation

WWF:WorldWildlifeFund


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Acknowledgements

Therunningofacitizenscienceprogramtocollectdataonourfishspecies,andinvolvementin many research projects, is a major undertaking. The program would not be possiblewithoutthesupportofawiderangeoforganisationsandindividualsthathavecontributedeitherfunding, inkindsupportandvoluntaryeffort.Thevoluntaryeffortofall taggersandvolunteerfishersisalsoacknowledged.GoldContributors($20,000andover)InfofishAustralia DepartmentofAgricultureandFisheries

SilverContributors($5,000-$20,000)None BronzeContributors(upto$5,000)

QueenslandFishingMonthly


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SuntagAustraliaIncSuntag Australia Inc was established in 2016 with the following bodies on the inauguralmanagementcommittee.ThecommitteeisresponsibleforprovidingstrategicguidanceandoverseemanagementofSuntag.CapricornTagandReleaseSportfishingClub(Captag)GladstoneSportfishingClubInfofishAustraliaFreshwaterFishingandStockingAssociationQueenslandBrisbaneValleyAnglersFishStockingAssociation

QueenslandFishingMonthlyABTTournamentsStonesCornerMarineBrisbaneRiverFishingWorldWildlifeFundWestag(observer)


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SuntagFunding

The following organisations or fishing groups contributed funding for their projects,particularlyforthepurchaseoftags.

FitzroyRiverFishStockingAssociationEmeraldFishStockingGroupHollowaysBeachEnvironmentEducationCentreRockyBarraBountyBoyneTannumHookupCaptag

CopperlodeFishandKayakGladstoneAreaWaterBoardGladstoneSportfishingClubMackayAreaFishStockingAssociationCatchmentSolutions

Thefollowing individualscontributedfundingforthepurchaseoftagsfortheirownuseormadeadonationtoSuntag.

BillyStringerMichaelDohntDavidLindsayDuncanFaichneySteveSalmondTonyVesel

TimTrollworthyKeithHarveyson

ProjectspartneringwithInfofish-Suntag The following projects are undertaken in conjunction with Infofish and/or Suntag. CrystalBowlLakeAwoonga(GladstoneAreaWaterBoardtagging)GladstoneHealthyHarbourPartnership

FitzroyPartnershipforRiverHealthCatchmentSolutions(Mackay)Westag(TaggingWesternAustralia)


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SupportersContributorsandCollaboratorsThe following organisations have provided support for Infofish or Suntag or activitiesundertakenbyInfofishorSuntag.InternationalGameFishingAssociationHallprintPtyLtdThaAppTeamPeriscopeDataInsightGenesisRockhamptonRegionalCouncilBLA(BoatingLifestyleAdventure)GreatBarrierReefMarineParkAuthorityDepartmentofDefenceBarraDaveSportfishingServices

JamesCookUniversityFitzroyBasinAssociationFreshwaterFishStockingAssociationofQueenslandAndrewPhipps(Phippsy)-RadioZincGrahamCummingYarrallaDeepSeaFishingClubSunfishQueenslandSEQWater


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BusinessesparticipatinginSuntagThefollowingbusinessesparticipatedinSuntagthisyear.QueenslandFishingMonthlyStonesCornerMarineCaste-magLivelyLuresShadsLuresInfish-Lures

Andy’sFishingAdventuresBrisbaneRiverFishingCQFishingAdventuresBaitTackleStoreAllTackleSportfishingBliBliFishingPark

ClubsparticipatinginSuntagThefollowingclubsorsomemembersoftheseclubshavetakenpartinSuntagthisyear.

CaptagGladstoneSportfishingClubMossmanSportfishingClubIpswichUnitedSportfishingClubSouthernBrisbaneSportfishingClub

TownsvilleSportfishingClubTownsvilleSaltwaterSportsman'sClubHinchinbrookSportfishingClubBundabergSportfishingClub

FishStockingGroupsparticipatinginSuntagThefollowingfishstockinggroupshavetakenpartinSuntagthisyear.

GladstoneAreaWaterBoard(Awoonga)MackayAreaFishStockingAssociationFitzroyRiverFishStockingGroupMountIsaFishStockingGroupTablelandsFishStockingSocietyTwinCitiesFishingStockingSocietyFaustDamFishStockingAssociationCallideValleyNativeFishStockingAssociationEmeraldFishStockingGroup

MackenzieRiverFishStockingAssociationLakeBorumbaFishStockingAssociationBrisbaneValleyAnglersFishStockingAssociationPineRiversFishManagementAssociationMonduranAnglersStockingAssociation


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FishingCompetitionsInfofish-Suntag works with and supports the following fishing competitions by managingdataonfishtaggedduringtheseevents.RockyBarraBountyMillionDollarFish(NorthernTerritory)BoyneTannumHookupLakeMoondarraFishingClassicLongreachFishingCompetitionFisherman’sLandingFishingandSocialClubTaggedFishCompetition

InfofishCitizenScienceandSuntagReport2016/17

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TheInfofishAustraliaTeam

Infofishstartedout in1995as InfofishServicesandwasapartnershipbetweenBillandShirleySawynok.In2010itbroadeneditsscopeandbecameInfofishAustralia.Attheendof2016-17 it hasbecomea company InfofishAustraliaPty Ltdwith StefanSawynokastheManagingDirector.However, ithasfundamentallyremainedasmallfamilybusinesswithbigaspirationsandnowhas3generationsworkingforthebusiness.InfofishhasadoptedaCitizenscienceapproachtomonitoringoffisheriesandcontinuestobuildtechnologicaltoolsthataidfisheriesmonitoring.

Bill Sawynok is the founder of Infofish that he established in1995inpartnershipwithwifeShirley.HemanagedSuntagsincethenandhasoverseentheexpansionofthebusinessintootherareasof fisheriesmonitoring, inparticulartheCrystalBowl.Atthe end of 2016-17 he has handed over the business to sonStefanbutremainsthemanageroftheRockhamptonofficeandcontinuestoplayanactiveroleinthebusiness.Shirley Sawynok is the Finance Manager for Infofish AustraliaandwaspartofthepartnershipthatestablishedInfofish.Withthe transfer of the business to Infofish Australia Pty Ltd sheretains the role of Finance Manager and is based in theBrisbane office. She alsomanages the finances for a range ofotherfamilybusinesses.StefanSawynokjoinedInfofishAustraliain2012andattheendof 2016-17 has become Managing Director of the company.StefanisbasedintheBrisbaneofficeandfocusesontechnologyand communications. He has been responsible for thedevelopment of Crystal Bowl dashboards, Trackmyfish phoneapp and the establishment of a business relationship withHallprinttofacilitateoverseasexpansionofthebusiness.Pheonix Sawynok is the third generation of the family andjoined Infofishonapart timebasis in2017.She is responsibleforthepreparationofvideomaterialforthebusiness.


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TheSuntagAustraliaTeam

Suntag Australia was established in 2016 to provide strategic guidance and overseemanagementofSuntag.ItiscomprisedofallthegroupsthattakepartinCitizenSciencemonitoringthroughtaggingunderSuntag.

ToddvandenHeuvelistheinauguralPresidentofSuntagAustralia.HeisalsoPresidentofCapricornTagandReleaseSportfishingClub(Captag) which is one of the largest tagging club in SuntagAustralia. Todd is based in Rockhampton and enjoys BarramundifishingintheFitzroyRiver.Bill Sawynok is the Secretary of Suntag Australia and is theRockhampton Manager of Infofish Australia. He has managedtaggingsince its introduction in1986.Hehasplayedseveral rolesin fisheries including manager of Recfishing Research 2005-2012,past director of the Fisheries Research and DevelopmentCorporationandpastboardmemberof theCooperativeResearchCentrefortheGreatBarrierReef.Shirley Sawynok is the Treasurer of Suntag Australia and theFinance Manager for Infofish Australia. Shirley also managesSuntaggersthatallowsindividualmemberstotakepart inSuntag.Shealsomanagestagpurchasesanddistribution,theInfofishshopandistheeventmanagerfortheRockyBarraBounty.Steve Morgan is the publisher of the Fishing Monthly magazinesandtheowneroftheABTfishingtournamentscircuit.Steveisalsoa qualified marine scientist so knows the value of good data.SomehowStevefindsthetimetofit inabout150days(ornights)fishingeachyearsohasaverystrongcontactwiththefishery.

GlenBakeristheproprietorofStonesCornerMarineinBrisbane.Glenhasbeenamemberof Suntag since themid1990’s and isactive in tagging in Moreton Bay and SEQ. Glen is extremelypassionate about Suntag and has been involved in “recruiting”manynewmembersoverrecentyears.CharlieLadd is theTreasurerofFreshwaterFishingandStockingAssociation Queensland (FFSAQ) and currently holdsmanagement roles in Sunfish Queensland and Brisbane ValleyAnglersFishstockingAssociation(BVAFA).Hehasbeenamemberof VAFA since 1996 and FFSAQ for 13 years. Charlie representsthetagginginterestsoffishstockinggroups.


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David Hill is the President of the Gladstone Sportfishing Clubwhichhasfocusedontaggingformanyyears.Davidiscurrentlyworking in PNGand commutes fromGladstone to PNG.WhileDavid is away Bob Pirie is acting as his proxy. Bob is the longstandingTaggingOfficerfortheGladstoneclub.Liam Fitzpatrick lives in Brisbane and is the representative ofSuntaggersinsouthQueensland.HeisalsoamemberofFFSAQand has been involved in a number of processes dealing withthedevelopmentofleadershipskills.JimHiggsistheGreatBarrierReefFisheriesPolicyManagerforWWFAustralia.Hehasextensiveexperiencewiththecollectionandanalysisofrecreational,commercialandindigenousfishinginformation.HecompletedaMasterofScienceat JamesCookUniversity based on the analysis on historical fishing clubcompetitionrecordsin1993.Matthew Hubbard manages Brisbane River Fishing which is afishing tour operation. He is representing fishing tour andcharteroperatorsintheirtaggingefforts.Matt’sfocusisontheBrisbaneRiverwithKingThreadfin andMullowaybeingprimetargets.SteveSalmondisintheArmyandlivesinTownsvilleandistherepresentative of Suntaggers in North Queensland. Steve hashad a long associationwith tagging dating back to the 1990s.His careerwith the Army resulted in amove to theNorthernTerritory where he continued his tagging. However, afterseveralyearsStevewasonthemoveagainwithfishingtakingaback seat. In 2015 Steve returned to Townsville andrecommencedtaggingandnowhauntstheBohleRiver.


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Whatdoesthefuturehold?

Infofish Australia (and its predecessors) has been providing a service to the fishingindustry for almost 30 years since 1986. With over 1.3 million fish records and over850,000 tagged fish in thedatabase it isnowthe largest fisheriesdatabase inAustraliaoutsidegovernmentandresearch institutionsandthe largestvolunteer fisheriescitizensciencedatabaseintheworld.Overitslifetime,itisestimatedthattherehasbeen$15-20m invested or provided in kind by government, other funders, researchers, taggers,stockinggroupsandvolunteerfishers.Last year saw the establishment of Suntag Australia to provide strategic guidance andoversee management of Suntag. Suntag provides most of the volunteer fishers thatprovide data through tagging. Themanagement committee is composedof key groupsthatareinvolvedintaggingwithInfofishmaintainingtheroleofdaytodaymanagement.ThisyearthefocusforInfofishhasbeenthedevelopmentofthetechnologytoolstotakeus into the future. The completion of version 2 of the Trackmyfish phone app willimprove and expanddata collection. There is already considerable interest frommajorfishingcompetitionswithABTTournamentsalreadyusingtheapp.At the information delivery end the expansion of Crystal Bowl dashboards hassignificantly expanded the data that are now available in real time. There are severalstocking groups that have taken up dashboards to track their stockings and theRockhamptonRegionalCouncilhasadoptedtheCrystalBowlformonitoringoftheFitzroyRiverintheCapricorniaNetFreeZone.These developments are necessary to ensure that Infofish and its supporting fishinggroups remain relevant into the future. With the release of the QueenslandGovernment’s Sustainable Fisheries Strategy in June 2017 and its recognition thatmonitoring needs to improve this had offered the opportunity for a review of CitizenScience monitoring. That review is currently underway and it aims to provide theopportunityforawholeofrecreationalsectorapproachtomonitoring.But our sights are not limited to Queensland. With the Westag program in WesternAustraliaonboardandthedevelopmentofaCrystalBowlapproachfortheDalyRiverintheNorthernTerritorytherangeofmonitoringisincreasing.Theformationofabusinessarrangement between Infofish and Hallprint also offers the opportunity to market apackage including tags, data collection and informationdelivery overseaswith the firstclientinBelizeinCentralAmerica.A clear pathway has been set for the future and the pace of change will continue tospeedup.Infofishhasplaceditselfinastrongpositiontomeetthechallengesthatlieinfrontofus.

BillSawynokInfofishAustralia


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Summaryof2016-17

Thiswasanotheryearofsignificantchangeandprogress.ThefocushasbeenonexpandingtherangeofdataprovidedinrealtimethroughCrystalBowldashboardsandexpandingtherangeofdatacollectedthroughTrackmyfish.TheCrystalBowlnowhasover100dashboards that containover1,000maps, graphsandtables thatareupdateddaily and thosenumbersareever increasingas the scopeofdatabeingpresentedcontinuestogrow.Thedevelopmentof the Infofishdatawarehouse allowsdata frommultiple sources to bemaintained and used in analyses. Data from several international databases wasdownloaded to test the capabilities of the data warehouse. This allows new value addproducts to be developed to improve information delivery to fishers to assist in theirdecisionmaking.ThefocusofcatchmonitoringisnowoncollectingdatafromT20fishers(the20%offishersthatcatch80%ofthefish)withstatisticalmodellingofthenumberofcatchrecordsrequiredfromT20fishersforaparticularriversystem,localareaorregiontogetareliableestimateofcatchratesforT20fishers.ThiswastrialledintheFitzroyRiverthisyearinmonitoringoftheNFZanddevelopingourforecastingcapabilities.The Infofish database is one of largest recreational fishers’ databases in theworld that isbased on data collected mostly by volunteers and constitutes a combined investment of$15-20millionoverthepast30years.ThisyeardatafromSuntag,WestagandtheNorthernTerritorywereincorporatedintotheprimarydatabase.Therearenowover1.3millionfishrecordsinthedatabasewithover11,000volunteerfishershavingcontributedtheirdata.Recruitment monitoring was focused on Barramundi in the Fitzroy River and theenvironmentaldriversofrecruitmentarenowwellunderstood.RecruitmentmonitoringofBreamfortheGladstoneHealthyHarbourReportCardwasinitssecondyear.Impoundmentmonitoring continueswith themodeldeveloped forAustralianBass in LakeSamsonvale being refined. Tagging of Bass continues in a number of southernimpoundments. Barramundi monitoring in impoundments continues to be focused onreleasing tagged larger fish (around 200mm)with Crystal Bowl dashboards introduced fortracking stocking in the Fitzroy River. Tracking of tagged stocked Barramundi has alsocontinued in theMackay,TownsvilleandCairnsareas.CrystalBowl trackinghasalsobeenintroducedtoLakeMorrisnearCairns.CompetitionmonitoringhasalsocontinuedwiththefocusontheRockyBarraBounty,BoyneTannumHookUpandABTtournaments.Monitoringincludestaggingandcollectionofcatchdata.TheTrackmyfishappwasusedintheBountyandinsomeABTtournaments.Monitoring of fish health continues in theGladstone area following the large outbreak ofhealthissuesin2011.Theincidenceofdeadorsickfishdeclinedthroughto2016howeverwith the spilling of Lake Awoonga again in April 2017 that situation may change withnumbersofBarramundispillingintotheBoyneRiver.


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InfofishAustralia’sMissionandStrategies

ThishasbeenanotheryearofsignificantchangeforInfofishwithgreaterrecognitionofourcommunitybase,refiningourmissionandkeystrategiesandthecontinueddevelopmentofthetechnologytoolstoimplementthestrategies.

InfofishAustralia’sMission“Socialchangeinfisheriesthroughcitizenscience”

Strategy 1: Focus on providing information in real time that is relevant to the needs ofdecisionmakingbyfishersandmanagementagenciesStrategy 2: Focus on collecting data that are relevant to the needs of decisionmaking byfishersandmanagementagenciesStrategy3:DevelopthecapacityofthecommunitytoengageinfisheriescitizenscienceStrategy4:Continuetoinnovateinallaspectsofdatacollectionandinformationdeliverytobetterinformpublicpolicy

RealtimeinformationfordecisionmakingStrategy1:FocusonprovidingrealtimeinformationthatisrelevanttotheneedsofdecisionmakingbyfishersStrategytools(realtimeinformation)CrystalBowldashboardsInfofishdatawarehouse(worldwidefisheries,environmentalandclimaticdatasets)

CrystalBowldashboards

With the worldwide reliance on instant information brought about by technology thecommunityhasbecomeevermorereliantonrealtimeinformationintheirdecisionmaking.However, the fishing industry has largely failed to react to this change and is stillmostlyrelying on outdated information in making decisions. The Crystal Bowl is attempting tochangethisparadigm.TheCrystalBowlapproachisaboutusingdatafromasmanysourcesasrelevanttoanissue,speciesor locationandturningthataroundintouseful informationandmaking itavailablethrough dashboards in real time. Having relevant information in real time is much morelikelytoinfluencedecisionmakinginthesamewaythatdailyweatherforecastinginfluencesourdecisionmakingandbehaviour.Initially the focusof theCrystal Bowl has been toprovide informationon fish sizes, catchrates,trendsinfishstocksandrecruitment.However,therewillbeanever-expandingarrayofoptionsasfishersstarttousetheinformation,understandwhatitoffersandwhatmoreitcando.TheCrystalBowlnowhasover100dashboards that containover1,000maps, graphsandtables thatareupdateddaily and thosenumbersareever increasingas the scopeofdatabeingpresentedcontinuestogrow.Figure1showsapartofadashboardofBarramundiintheFitzroyRiver.


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AsapointertothefuturetheRockhamptonRegionalCouncilhasadoptedtheCrystalBowlformonitoringtheFitzroyRiverintheCapricorniaNetFreeZone(NFZ).TheFitzroyRiverFishStockingAssociationandCopperlodeFishandKayakhavealsoadoptedtheCrystalBowlformonitoringtheirstockingofBarramundiintheirarea.

Figure1:CrystalBowlrealtimedashboardmonitoringBarramundiintheFitzroyRiver


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InfofishDataWarehouse The Infofish database was designed to collect data on tagged fish and was expanded tocollectdataon catchandeffort and recruitment surveys.However, as the future requiresbeingabletodownloadandstoredatafromabroadrangeofdatabasesandothersources,Infofishhasdevelopedadatawarehouse.The data warehouse allows data from multiple sources to be maintained and used inanalyses.Datafromseveralinternationaldatabaseswasdownloadedtotestthecapabilitiesof the data warehouse. This allows new value add products to be developed to improveinformationdeliverytofisherstoassistintheirdecisionmaking.As an example a comparison was made between fish world records maintained by theInternational Game Fish Association (IGFA) and Australian records maintained by theAustralianNationalSportfishingAssociation(ANSA).Figure2showsasteadyincreaseinthenumber of records overall achieved through to around 2000 as maintained by bothorganisations.From2000onwardthenumberofIGFArecordsmaintainedasteadyincreasewhilethenumberofANSArecordshassteadilydeclined.Thissuggeststhattherehasbeenadifferentapproachtomaintainingrecordsbetweenthe2organisations.IGFA

ANSA

Figure2:ComparinggrantedrecordfishclaimsmaintainedbyIGFAandANSA


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CollectingdatarelevanttodecisionmakingStrategy 2: Focus on collecting data that are relevant to the needs of decisionmaking byfishersandmanagementagenciesStrategytools(collectingrelevantdata)TaggedfishmonitoringCatchmonitoringNetFreeZonemonitoringRecruitmentmonitoringImpoundmentmonitoringCompetitionmonitoringFishHealthmonitoringPestspeciesmonitoring

Taggedfishmonitoring TaggedfishmonitoringistheoldestcomponentofInfofishdatacollectionbeingestablishedin 1986 in Queensland but now includes data from Western Australia and the NorthernTerritory.Therearenowover1.3millionfishrecordsinthedatabaseincludingdataon0.85million tagged fish. The Infofish database represents the largest long-term investment inrecreational fisheries data collection in Australia outside government. Details on thedatasetsarecontainedinthesectionsonSuntag,WestagandNorthernTerritory.

Catchmonitoring

Thetraditionalapproachtocatchmonitoringhasbeenthroughdiaryandboatrampsurveysand Infofish has carried out boat ramp surveys through projects such as CapReef andGladfish.However,boat rampsurveysare labourandanalysis intensive, costlyand resultscan take some considerable time to produce. They also do not necessarily provide timelyinformationthatcanassistindecisionmakingbyfishersandevenmanagementagencies.To this end Infofish has developed a new approach using Prices Law that is based on thePareto distribution. That provides a scientific base to thewell-known saying that “20%offishers catch80%of the fish”.ThecatchesofT20 fishers (those in the top20%)aremoresensitivetochangesinthefisherythanthebroaderrecreationalfishingpopulationandwillshowuptrendssooner.ThefocusisnowoncollectingdatafromT20fisherswithstatisticalmodellingofthenumberofcatchrecordsrequiredfromT20fishersforaparticularriversystem,localareaorregiontogetareliableestimateofcatchratesforT20fishers.Thisapproach isbeingused intheFitzroyRiverwherecatchdataarebeingcollectedfromT20 fishers (not just taggers) in a variety of ways for use in the monitoring of the NFZthroughtheCrystalBowlanddevelopingforecastingcapabilities.Asanexample,figure3showsthatoverthepast10yearsintheFitzroyRivertherewere570fishers that reported catching 14,750 Barramundi while there were just 76 (13.3%) thatcaught80%ofthefish.


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By providing this information through Crystal Bowl dashboards it allows trends to bemonitoredinrealtimeandprovidesinformationthatfisherscanuseindecisionmaking.Itisalso significantly more cost effective and that is a key requirement for monitoring to besustainedoverlongperiodsoftime.

Figure3:ParetodistributionoftheBarramundicatchintheFitzroyRiveroverthepast10

years

NetFreeZonesmonitoring

The Queensland Government declared 3 Net Free Zones (NFZ) in Nov 2015 wherecommercialnetfishingwasremoved.Thezoneswere:

ª Cairns(TrinityBay)ª Mackay(StHelensBaytoCapeHillsborough)ª Capricornia(FitzroyRiver,KeppelBayandCorioBay)

Fisheries Queensland is undertaking monitoring of catch and effort in each of the zonesthroughboatrampsurveystodeterminechangescomparedtoadjacentlocations.Infofishisalso undertaking monitoring in the Capricornia NFZ using T20 fishers. In the Mackay NFZInfofish issupporting theMackayRecreationalFishingAlliance (MRFA) inmonitoringcatchthroughboatrampsurveys.MRFAundertooksurveysbefore(Oct2015)andafter(Feb-Apr2016)theintroductionoftheNFZ.AfollowupsurveywasconductedfromFeb-Apr2017forcomparisonwiththe2016survey.Infofishproduceda reporton the resultsof those surveys.Figure4 shows thecatch ratesover the 3 surveys adjusted to a standard trip (2.5 fishers fishing for 6 hours or 15 hoursfishingeffort).Detailsofthesurveysarecontainedinthereport“AssessingFishingTrendsStHelenstoCapeHillsboroughNetFreeZone”availablefromMFRA.


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Figure4:CatchratesperstandardfishingtripintheMackayNFZ

Figure5:RealtimetrackingofKingThreadfinintheFitzroyRiveraspartoftheNFZ

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SURVEY1 SURVEY2 SURVEY3

CATCHRA

TE

MACKAYNFZCATCHRATES

FISHCAUGHT/STDTRIP FISHKEPT/STDTRIP


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For the Capricornia NFZ the Rockhampton Regional Council (RRC) this year adopted a“RockhamptonRegionRecreational FishingStrategy”aspartof the implementationof theNFZ.AspartofthestrategytheRRChas includedtheCrystalBowlformonitoringtheNFZ.ThisincludesforecastsforBarramundi,KingandBlueThreadfinintheFitzroyRiverandrealtimemonitoringofthoseforecasts.Figure5 showspartof thedashboardbeingused tomonitorKingThreadfin in theFitzroyRiveraspartoftheNFZ.Taggingisanintegralpartofthedatarequiredformonitoringgiventhe loss of commercial catch data. A correlationwas establishedbetween the fish taggedandthecommercialcatchofBarramundi.CaptagisleadingthecollectionofdataintheNFZhoweverotherT20fishersfishingtheriverarealsoprovidingdata.CatchdetailsfromtheT20fishersarethenprovidedthroughCrystalBowldashboardsthatare updated daily providing useful information in real time that can be used to moreeffectivelymonitorthefishery.

Recruitmentmonitoring

Any future-oriented service for fishersmust understand recruitment, as future stocks arecritically dependent on recruitment. Infofish has recognised this and over the years hassteadilyexpandeditsrecruitmentmonitoring.MonitoringofBarramundirecruitmentstartedinCentralQueenslandin1999andthedriversof Barramundi recruitment are now well understood and the level of Barramundirecruitment can be accurately forecast based on river flows and rainfall. Barramundirecruitment ismonitored intheFitzroyRiver,Gladstone,BroadsoundandCapricorniaNFZ.Recruitment is forecast as poor, moderate or strong and is based a climate index and ismeasuredbythecatchrateofrecruits.Barramundirecruitmentismonitoredthroughacombinationofrecruitmentsurveysusingastandardisedcastnetmethodandtagginglaterintherecruitmentperiodwhenthefisharelargeenoughtobecaughtonline.River flow and rainfall data are converted to a climate index to allow recruitment to beplottedagainst theclimate.The indexranges froma lowof5 (poor for recruitment) to30(goodforrecruitment).Data are assessed based on the number of recruits/fisher/day so that the strength ofrecruits canbe comparedwith forecasts and fromyear to year.Figure 6 shows the catchrate for Barramundi recruits in the Fitzroy River for the past decade (2017 for half theseason).Therecruitmentforecastforthe2017seasonwasmoderatebasedonprojectedrainfallandriver flowwhile atmid-season the recruitment is indicatedas strongand the forecasthasbeenrevisedtomoderate-strong.AfinalassessmentofrecruitmentwillbemadeinNovattheendoftheseason.


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Figure6:CrystalBowllivetrackingofBarramundirecruitmentintheFitzroyRiver

Figure7:CrystalBowllivetrackingofBarramundirecruitmentintheFitzroyRiver2013-17 Barramundi grow rapidly over the season from Jan-Octwhen they can reach 400mm in agoodyear.AssessingBarramundirecruitsovertheseasonwasimprovedbytrackingrecruitsbasedontheirsizeusing2monthintervalsasshowninfigure7.BarramundirecruitmentisusedasafishindicatorbytheFitzroyPartnershipforRiverHealthas part of a report card on the health of the Fitzroy River. Figure 8 shows some earlyBarramundirecruitscapturedinaFitzroyRiverwetlandinJan2017.

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Figure8:EarlyBarramundirecruitsinJan2017fromaFitzroyRiverwetlandAs part of the development of the Gladstone Healthy Harbour report card the GladstoneHealthyHarbourPartnershipareusingBreamrecruitmentasthefishindicatorforthereportcardfollowingtrialsurveysin2015.Recruitmentsurveyswereundertakenin2016and2017at26sitesfromtheNarrowsinthenorth to Rodds Harbour in the south. Recruitment surveys were undertaken using thestandardisedcastnetmethodasusedforprevioussurveys.ThefocuswasonYellowfinandPikeyBreamasshowninfigure9.

Figure9:PikeyBream(left)andYellowfinBream(right)recruitsrecordedduringGladstonerecruitmentsurveys


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Figure10:CatchratesofBreamrecruitsovertherecruitmentseasonCatch rateswere assessed for the 2 years and historic data from a number of sites since2011-12todevelopascoreforrecruitmentfromA-E.Recruitmentin2016wasassessedasDwhile 2017 was assessed as B. Details are contained in the report “Fish recruitmentindicators for the Gladstone Harbour Report Card using data derived from castnetsampling”.

Impoundmentmonitoring

Taggingallowsstockinggroupstomonitortheirstockingeffortsinacosteffectivewayandprovides data on growth, movement, survival, escapement and mixing with wildpopulations.Lastyearamodelwasdevelopedtoestimatethenumberofstockedfishinanimpoundmentthatcouldbeusedtoprovideanestimateofnumberstobestockedtomaintaincatchratesor project the future effect of different stocking proposals. The model uses stocking andtaggingdataandascenarioapproachbasedonworst-,middle-andbest-casescenarios.Thescenariosusedifferentratesofsurvivaloffingerlings,annualreductionsinnumbersineachstockingusingrecaptureratesandtheeffectofescapementfromovertoppingof theimpoundment.Thisthenallowedanestimatetobemadeofthenumberoffishneededtobe stocked in the coming year to maintain current catch rates. Figure 11 shows theestimated number of Bass in Lake Samsonvale based on the 3 scenarios. A report wasproduced “Lake Samsonvale Stocking and Monitoring 1990-2015.” The report is availablefromtheInfofishwebsitewww.infofishaustralia.com.au.ThisyearsawthefirstuptakeofCrystalBowldashboardsforthetrackingoftaggedstockedBarramundi with the Fitzroy River Fish Stocking Association adopting the dashboards totracktheirstockingsfrom2005-2017.Figure12showsthedashboardtrackingfishfromthe2015 stocking at Alligator Creek with most of the fish being recaptured over 40kmdownstreamintheFitzroyestuary.

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Figure11:EstimatednumbersofBassinLakeSamsonvale(mostlikelyandrange)

Figure12:CrystalBowldashboardlivetrackingofBarramundistockedintheFitzroyRiverin

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Competitionmonitoring

Datacollectedduringfishingcompetitionscanprovideasnapshotofthestateofthefisherybased on the competitions targets or objectives. Long-term data from competitions canprovideusefuldataontrends.Thereisagrowingtrendinfishingcompetitionstoincludethetaggingoffish.Someeventsofferprizesfortherecaptureofataggedfishwhileothersusetaggingtomonitortheirlocalfisheries. The following fishing competitions have a tagging component supported byInfofishandSuntag:ª RockyBarraBountyatRockhampton(1999-2016)ª BoyneTannumHookupatGladstone(2000-2017)Catch and effort data from these competitions have also been collected as part of theCapReef,GladfishandCrystalBowlprograms.TheRockyBarraBountytargetsBarramundiintheFitzroyRiverandhasbeenheldinSep-Octeachyearforthepast17years.TheRockyBarraBountyisatagandreleaseonlyeventwithfishtaggedandreleasedwherecaughtwithaphotographprovidingevidenceofthecatch.CatchratesintheBountyarenowused,alongwithdatafromlocaltaggersandT20fishers,toassesstrends incatchrates intheFitzroyRiver.Figure13 showsthecatchratesforthepast10yearsfrom2007-2016.In2008attheendofalongdryperiodittook25.1hourstocatch aBarramundiwhile in 2011 itwas 1.6 hours. In that year the eventwent for 1,200minutesandtherewere1,210Barramundicaught(1fish/minute).In2016ittook15.5hoursofefforttocatchaBarramundihoweverthatyeartherewasaminorfloodintheriverthatcreatedtheworstconditions in the17yearsof theevent.Furtherdetailsof theeventareavailablefromwww.rockybarrabounty.com.

Figure13:HourstocatchaBarramundiorfishintheRockyBarraBounty2007-2016

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Figure14:MovementoftaggedfishreleasedattheBoyneTannumHookUp

The Boyne Tannum HookUp in Gladstone is one of the largest fishing competitions inAustralia with around 3,000 participants. From 2000 the Gladstone Sportfishing Club hasmanagedaliveweigh-insectionoftheeventwherefisharebroughtinalive,tagged,heldindisplaytanksandthenreleased.AllfishhavebeenreleasedatthecompetitionheadquartersatBrayParknearthemouthoftheBoyneRiver.Ofthefishrecaptured77.2%wererecapturedwithin6monthsand95.1%wererecapturedwithin20kmofwherereleased.Figure14showsthedistancefishmovedcomparedtothetimeatliberty.DetailsoftagandcatchandeffortdatacollectedduringtheHookUp are in the report “Boyne Tannum Hook Up 2008-2017” available atwww.boynetannumhookup.com.au.Competitionmonitoringwill increasesignificantlywith the introductionof theTrackmyfishphoneapp.TheABTTournamentcircuithasalreadyadoptedtheappforitscompetitions.TheappwasusedtocollectdataintheABTMarringRiverEventinMay2017andtoprovidea live scoreboard. Also there was live video streaming throughout the event of 2 topcompetitorssothattheeventcouldbefollowedbyalargeraudience.Figure15showsthewebsitethatprovidedlivecoverageoftheevent.ItisexpectedthatseverallargecompetitionswillalsotakeuptheappfortheireventswiththeFlatheadClassicontheGoldCoastconsideringuseoftheappfortheirevent.

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Figure15:LivecoverageoftheABTManningRiverEventinMay2017

FishHealthmonitoring

FloodingintheGladstoneareain2011resultedintheovertoppingofLakeAwoongawithanestimated30,000+largeBarramundispillingfromthelake.Thisresultedinsignificantdeathsof the fish followed by serious health issues in the Gladstone area. Fish deaths in theGladstoneareacontinuedfrom2011-2015butthenumbersreporteddiminishedeachyearwithnodeathsreportedin2016.WiththeremnantsofCycloneDebbiecausingmajorfloodingalongmuchoftheQueenslandeastcoastsouthofTownsvilleinApr2017itresultedinthefurtherspillingoffishfromLakeAwoonga.DeadfishwerereporteddownstreamfromthelakeintheBoyneRiver.Figure16showssomeofthelargeBarramundithatwerefounddeadintheBoyneRiverfollowingthespillingofLakeAwoonga.


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Figure16:LargedeadBarramundiintheBoyneRiverafterthespillingofLakeAwoongainApr2017

PestFishmonitoring

TilapiawerefirstconfirmedintheRockhamptonareain2012andsincethenhavebecomewide-spreadinthelowerFitzroyRiver.TheFitzroyBasinAssociation(FBA)istakingtheleadindealingwithTilapiaandInfofishisprovidinginformationinsupportoftheirwork.Tilapiahavenowbeen recorded from several locations in theCapricornia area and following theflooding this year it is likely that theywill bemuchmorewidespread. It is likely that theyhave orwill spread to the Gladstone area. Figure 17 shows some of the Tilapia removedfromaFitzroyfloodplainlagoon.

Figure17:TilapiafromaFitzroyfloodplainlagoon


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WorkingwiththeCommunityStrategy3:DevelopthecapacityofthecommunitytoengageinfisheriescitizenscienceCommunitygroupsandclientbodiesSuntaggersCaptagGladstoneSportfishingClubBrisbaneValleyAnglersFishStockingGroupsGovernmentagenciesNaturalResourceManagementgroupsGreatBarrierReefMarineParkAuthority

EnvironmentalgroupsEducationbodiesResearchersFishingcompetitionsFishingTourOperatorsInterstategroupsOverseasclients

StrategytoolsforCommunityengagementEngageandworkdirectwithcommunitygroupsFacilitateleadershipdevelopmentAttractingvolunteersFeedbacktocontributorsRewardingvolunteercontributionsTrainingandaccreditation

Workingwiththecommunity

Infofish engages with a wide range of community groups, client bodies and direct withfishersandsupportsactivitiesbeingundertakenbythosegroupsorindividuals,particularlythoseassociatedwithfisheriescitizenscience.Suntag Australia Inc was set up in 2016 to provide strategic guidance and overseemanagement of Suntag into the future and allow user groups to contribute to itsmanagement.Themembersofthemanagementcommitteeareinthesection“TheSuntagAustraliaTeam”.Infofish maintains a program of attending club or fishing groups meetings and providingpresentationsoninformationthatisrelevanttoparticulargroups.Infofishconvenedaworkshoponthe“NetFreeZones–OneYearOn”atCapeHillsboroughin Nov 2016. It has also been closely involved with the RRC on the development andimplementationofthe“RockhamptonRecreationalFishingDevelopmentStrategy”.Itisalsoconvening a “Rockhampton Recreational Fishing Forum” to be held in Sep to showcaseprogressinthe3NFZs.

Leadershipdevelopment

Havingaworld-classfutureorientedinformationserviceisnotenoughinitselftoinfluencefisher’sdecisionmaking. It requires the information tobepresented inways that thatwilllead to engagement and uptake. That requires the information to be credible, presentedsimplyandprovidedtoopinionmakersrelevanttotheinformationthatisprovided.


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ThekeyopinionmakerslargelycomefromT20fishersandarenolongerthebabyboomers,so there is a need to engage with the later generations as the next round of leaders.However, those generations access and use information in different ways to the babyboomersandtheyexerciseleadershipindifferentways.Infofishhasrecognisedthisandisactivelyworkingwiththoseyoungerfisherswithaviewofdevelopingtheir leadershipskillsandprovidinginformationtotheminawaythattheywilluse.LeaderswillgenerallycomefromtheT20 fishersandso the focus isonthose fishers.InfofishhasrunaseriesofinformaleveningsinBrisbanewithyoungfisherstoassistwiththedevelopmentofleadershipskills.

Attractingvolunteers

Aswell as fishing clubs, stocking groups and fishing businesses individuals can register asvolunteers.InQldthatisthroughSuntaggersandinWAthatisthroughWestaggers.Almostall volunteers wish to take part in tagging as their primary objective and this year forSuntaggers there was a new tagger signing up every 3 days. This was achieved throughinformationdeliveryandnotanyrecruitmentdrive.

SuntaggershaveaccesstoarangeofresourcesandsupportservicesthroughtheSuntaggerswebsite www.suntaggers.com.au. Infofish manages the website and figure 18 shows thehomepageontheSuntaggerssite.Thewebsiteprovidesthefollowing:ª AllowsfisherstojoinSuntaggersthroughonlineregistration(figure19)ª SuntaggersShopforbuyingtaggingequipmentª Resourcesfortaggers(maps,projects,awards)ª Accesstotaggersownrecords(readonly)throughSuntagOnlineª InfofishandSuntagreportsª Taggerscanloadtripandtagdataforinclusionindatabase(aftervalidation)ª Taggerscanmonitorprogresstowardstaggingawardsandprintcertificatesª Improvedreportingandfeedbackonrecapturesª LinkstoFacebookpages

OnceregisteredSuntaggersneedtopurchasetheirowntaggingequipment.Thatcanalsobedone through the website where Starter Kits are available for both dart (spear) and gun(anchor) tags.Videosarealsoavailable fromthewebsite toshownewtaggershowto tagfishcorrectly.

Starter kits (figure 20) include tag applicator, record book, measuring ruler and otherancillary equipment. The shop includes a secure payment method for online purchases.When registration is complete and a tagging kit purchased tags are then supplied free ofcharge(subjecttoavailability).

SuntagOnlineallowstaggerstoloadtheirfishingtripandtaggingdataandtomonitortheirowndata (readonly) andprovide feedbackon any anomalies. It also tracks recaptures oftaggersandprogresstowardsawards.Currentlytherearearound900registeredusers.


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Figure18:Suntaggerswebsitehomepage

Figure19:JoiningSuntaggersthroughtheSuntaggerswebsite


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Figure20:SuntaggerscanpurchaseStarterKitsfromtheSuntagShopTagsusedinSuntagareHallprinttagsobtainedfromHallprintPtyLtdofSouthAustralia.Thelong-standingsupportofDavidHallofHallprintforSuntagisacknowledged.ThetwotypesoftagsmostcommonlyusedinSuntagprogramsarethedartorspeartagandtheanchororgun tag. Both these tags are used in a number of sizes. The durability of these tags isdemonstratedbyrecapturesoffishupto20yearsaftertaggingandhavingthenumberstillabletoberead.

Feedbacktocontributors

To ensure that fishers that are contributing data to Infofish through Suntag and Westagremainengageditisimportantthatthereiscontinualfeedback.Thatisdoneinseveralwaysand with the expansion of data collection there will be an increase in the feedback tocontributors.For taggers, themost important element is feedbackon recapturesof fish that theyhavetagged.Recapturedetailsareprovidedtoboththepersonthatrecapturedthefishaswellasthetagger.Recapturedetailsarereportedthough:

ª 1800freecallnumberª Infofishwebsitesª Facebookª Infofishetripform

ª Commercialfishersª Emailª Mail

Feedbackisprovidedinseveralways.

ª Verballywhenreportedthroughthe1800tollfreenumberª Detailsareprovidedfromthedatabasewhenreportedthroughthewebsiteª Certificatestoboththefisherrecapturingthefishandthetagger

The methods of reporting recaptures have changed significantly. Figure 21 shows howrecaptureswerereportedsince2000 in5year intervals.Upto2010-2015the1800phonenumberwas themost commonmethod for reporting recaptures. That is not surprisingasthephonenumberisonthetag.However,for2015-2020(upto2017)thewebsitehastaken


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overasthemostusedreportingmethod,eventhoughthereisnoreferencetothewebsiteonthetag.Reporting by commercial fishers has fallen to an all-time low and reporting by mail hasalmost disappeared. An increasing number of recaptures are being reported throughFacebookhoweverthenumbersarestillverylow.

Figure21:Methodsofreportingrecapturesfrom2000-2020usinga5-yeartimespan

.Figure22:Oneofthenewtagandrecapturecertificates

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Certificatesaregeneratedelectronicallyandthereareseveraltemplatesthatcanbeusedasbackgrounds for the certificates. Customised templates are available for the Rocky BarraBountyandBoyneTannumHookUpandcanbeprovidedforotherprojectsorcompetitions.ThisyeararangeofnewtemplateswereintroducedcourtesyofFishingMonthlymagazinesasshowninfigure22.

RewardingVolunteerContributions

At this stage, rewarding contributions by fishers has focused on taggers however as datacollection expands it is likely that additional rewards for volunteer contributions with bedeveloped.TheSuntagHallofFamewasestablishedin2016torecognisethosetaggersthathavemadesignificantcontributionstotagging.MickDohnt(figure23)remainstheleadingtaggerwithover25,000fishtagged.Theinaugural13inducteesintotheHallofFamewere:

ª MickDohnt(BrisbaneSportfishingClub,MoretagandSuntaggers)ª LloydWillmann(SouthernBrisbaneSportfishingClub)ª KeithHarveyson(TownsvilleSportfishingClub)ª MichaelPowell(Captag)ª DanielPowell(CaptagandSuntaggers)ª BarryOxford(BrisbaneValleyAnglersFishStockingAssociation)ª JeffSorrell(BribieIslandSportfishingClub,Moretag)ª BobDover(KingaroySportfishingClub)ª PeterStoneley(GladstoneSportfishingClub)ª GeoffChapman(CairnsSportfishingClub)ª GlenBaker(QldSportfishers,Suntaggers)ª AlanDolan(LivelyLures)ª BillSawynok(Captag)

Suntagprovidesseveralawardstorecognisetheeffortsofittoptaggers.Theseawardsareimportantinprovidingrecognitionforthecontributionofindividuals.Theawardsare:ª TaggingExcellenceAward(tagaminimumnumberoffishfor2,000points)ª TaggingAchievementAward(tagaminimumnumberoffishfor200points)ª FrequentTaggerAward(tagaminimumof1,000fish)Progress towards awards ismonitored in the Suntag database and advise is automaticallysenttorecipientswhentheyreachanawardmilestone.ThisyearSuntagdashboardswereintroducedasanadditionaltooltomonitorawards.Figure24showspartofthedashboardshowingTaggingAchievementAwards.


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Figure23:MickDohnttheinauguralmemberoftheSuntagHallofFame

Figure24:Suntagdashboard(part)showingTaggingAchievementAwards


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Figure25:NewTaggingAchievementAwardcertificateintroducedin2016

Inreachingawardmilestonesisacknowledgedwithacertificatethatincludesaphotoofthespecies for the award as shown in figures 25. This year the award certificates are beingupdatedasANSAQisnolongerapartofSuntag.In2016-17theseareadditionalawardsthathavebeenachieved:

ª 44TaggingAchievementAward(37achievedin2015-16)ª 3TaggingExcellenceAward(4achievedin2015-16)ª 0FrequentTaggerAward(2achievedin2015-15)

TaggersthatuseSuntagOnlinecanlookuptheirprogresstowardsawards.Whenanawardisachieved,thesystemsendsanemailtothetaggerandInfofishAustralia. Recipientscanthen log inandprint theirowncertificatesor request a certificate from InfofishAustralia.Theycanalsoprintcertificatesforoldawardswherethecertificatewasneverreceived,lost,destroyedordamaged.

TrainingandAccreditation

Trainingof taggershasalwaysproven tobea challengegiven the limited fundingand thegeographic spread of taggers. In 2015, online training was introduced along with anaccreditationprocess.ThisyeartheAccreditationprocesswasupgradedandanewwebsiteestablishedhttp://accreditation.suntag.org.au/.Therearecurrently47accreditedtaggers.


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A 3 step accreditation process allows taggers to gain basic accreditation (figure 26). Theprocessinvolves:

ª APersonalTaggingPlanª Anumberofavailablecoursesonthetaggingprocessrequiringteststobepassedª Submissionof3photosoftaggedfish

Taggers that complete the process successfully become Accredited Suntaggers and areissuedwithanaccreditationcard.Trainingandaccreditationarecurrentlylimitedtotaggingbutasdatacollectionexpandsitislikely that theseelementswillalsobeexpanded.Withthe introductionof theTrackmyfishphoneapptherehavebeenarangeoftrainingaidspreparedforuseoftheapp.Trainingvideos,asshowninfigure27,onhowtotagfishareavailablefromtheSuntaggerswebsitewww.suntaggers.com.au.

Figure26:Suntagaccreditationavailablethroughonlinetraining


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Figure27:VideoclipsontaggingavailablethroughSuntaggerswebsite

InnovationindatacollectionandinformationdeliveryStrategy4:ContinuetoinnovateinallaspectsofdatacollectionandinformationdeliverytobetterinformpublicpolicyStrategytools(applyingtechnology)TrackmyfishphoneappCrystalBowldashboardsCrystalbowlforecastingVisualisingdataInfofish-SuntagreportsInfofish-SuntagWebsitesInfofish-SuntagFacebook(socialmedia)Infofish2017databaseTechnologypartnerships


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Trackmyfishphoneapp

Withtheever-increasinguseofmobilephonesforarangeofnewusesInfofishhasinvestedin the development of a phone app to collect a broad range of fish catch, tagging,competition, stocking and other data from more recreational fishers. The app wasdevelopedinconjunctionwiththeAppTeambasedontheSunshineCoastandversion2oftheappwasreleasedinMay2017andisavailableforbothIPhoneandAndroid.

Figure28:Trackmyfishappsettoimproveandincreasedatacollection

Theappisbasedaroundtakingaphotoofafishandcanbeconfiguredtoawiderangeoffishingscenarios.Theappcanbeusedwherethere isnomobile receptionas it stores thedatauntilitisinserviceandthenthedatacanbeuploadedtothedatabase.Figure28showstheloginscreenoftheapp.

Theappwillallowsignificantlymoredatatobecollectedfromabroaderrangeoffishersandfromabroaderrangeofgeographic locations including inotherstatesbesidesQueenslandandfromoverseas.DetailsareavailableattheTrackmyfishwebsiteatwww.trackmy.fish.

In the longer term, it is expected that Trackmyfish will become the primary method forcollectingdatatoenhancethedeliveryofrealtimeinformation.

CrystalBowldashboards

ThisyearsawthecontinuedexpansionintheuseofCrystalBowldashboardsusingPeriscopedatatechnology.ThisallowsdashboardstobesetupthroughtheCrystalBowlwebsiteandelsewheretoreflectdataintheInfofish-SuntagdatabaseorInfofishDataWarehouseinrealtime.

Figure29showsthepartofthedashboardsetuptoprovideastateoverviewofthedataonDuskyFlathead.


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Figure29:CrystalBowldashboardsetuptoprovideastateoverviewofthedataonDuskyFlathead

CrystalBowlforecasting

WherethereissufficientcurrentandhistoricdatatheCrystalBowlgoesastepfurtherandforecasts a range of parameters in relation to a species or location. The Fitzroy River inCentral Queenslandwas the birth place of the Crystal Bowl and is the testing ground formanyoftheinnovationsthathaveemerged.Thefirstforecastsweremadein2011forBarramundiintheFitzroyRiverinrelationtocatchratesandfishsizes.Sincethenforecastshaveextendedtocatchrates, fishsizes, trends instocks and recruitment. Forecasts for Barramundi have extended to Gladstone andBroadsoundandforKingThreadfinintheFitzroyRiver.ForBarramundiforecastsaremadeattheendofaseasonforthenextseason.Areviewisundertakenmid-season to adjust forecasts and a comparison of forecasts comparedwithactualisundertakenattheendoftheseason.Figure30showstheforecastsforBarramundi


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intheFitzroyRiverforthe2017seasonandthemid-yearreviewoffishsizesandcatchrates.Figures in redshowtherevised forecasts. In thereview,of the10 forecasts6werewithin10%oftheforecastrangeanddidnotrequireadjusting.

Figure30:Infofishturningdatacollectedintoinformationproducts

VisualisingdatathroughGoogleEarth

Tomake senseof thehugevolumeofdata in the Infofishdatabase itwasdecided touseGoogleEarthastheprimarytoolforvisualisingthedata.ThiswasbecauseofthewidespreaduseofGoogleEarthbyfishers.Therearenowaround400GoogleEarthviewsthatprovideaviewofthedata.Thesemapscanberegeneratedatanytimetoreflectcurrentdatainthedatabase.GoogleEarthmapscannowbegeneratedtodisplaythefollowing:ª Tagandrecapturelocationofrecapturedfishª TaglocationsshowingextentoftaggingusingSuntaggridmapsª Extentoffishingeffortinanareaª Timesequencingoftaglocationsshowingchangesovertimeª Flyoversfollowingfishfromtagtorecapturesiteª Photographs,video,graphsandenvironmentaldatacanbeaddedtothemapsª Combinedfishingeffortandtagging ª Recruitmentsurveydetails


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Figure 31 shows fish movements into and out of the Great Sandy Marine Park. This wasprovidedtothereviewoftheMarineParkcurrentlyunderway.ThisandotherGoogleEarthmapscanbeviewedinteractivelyfromtheInfofishdatabase.

Figure31:GoogleEarthmapshowingfishmovementforthereviewoftheGreatSandy

MarineParkFundamental tothevisualisationofdatawasthe introductionofamap/gridsystemintheearlydaysofSuntagtoallowlocationswherefishweretaggedorrecapturedtoberecorded.Grids were mostly 1km2 while some were 2km2. This allowed fine scale locations to berecordedwithoutgivingaway“secretspots”.

MapsareproducedusingMapInfoGISsoftwareandthentransferredtoGoogleEarth.Therearenowover300mapscoveringQueenslandinuseandtheseareavailablefromtheSuntagwebsiteinGoogleEarthformatorasapdf.Figure32isthemapoftheFitzroyRiverbothasapdfandinGoogleEarth.Thisallowsspatialanalysisofthedataatafineoraggregatescaleasrequired.

MapInfowasupgradedthisyearandgridmapsarenowabletobeproducedforanywhereinthe world. Maps are gradually being extended for use with Trackmyfish and are nowavaiable for the NSW north coast, coastal areas in Western Australia, Northern Territory(McArthur River,Daly River andDarwinHarbour), aroundAdelaide in SouthAustralia andthefirstoverseasmapforBelizeinCentralAmerica.


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Figure32:TagginggridmapsoftheFitzroyRiverinpdfandGoogleEarthformat


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Infofish-SuntagReports

InthelastdecadetheInternethaschangedeverythingaboutinformationdelivery.Theeraof paper printed reports is largely over with various electronic versions taking over.Informationisalsorequiredtobepresentedinsmallerchunksifitistogainattention.Alsodeliveryofvisual informationhastakingoverfromwords.Facebook,Twitter,YouTubeandInstagram generally require a very short attention span and there is an ever-growingcompetitionforpeople’stime.Thatistheenvironmentinwhichinformationdeliverymustcompete.Infofish-Suntag mini-reports provide a snapshot of Infofish-Suntag data for a particularspecies, location, timescale, issue or all of those. The reports are short and designed toprovideinformationtofishersinasimpleandeasilyunderstoodformat.ThesereportsandotherInfofishreportsareavailablefromwww.infofishaustralia.com.au.Figure33showshowthereportsarepresentedonthehomepageofthewebsitebasedongeographic location.Clickingon view reports goesdirect to the relevant reports. The Infofishwebsiteprovidesaccesstoover40reportswith27,000downloadsofthesereportssotheyareprovingtobepopular.New reports this year included an updated report on the Rocky Barra Bounty and BoyneTannum HookUp fishing competitions. A second report was produced on the “AssessingFishing Trends in the St Helens Bay to Cape Hillsborough Net Free Zone 2015-2017” andanother report was produced on the “Great Sandy Straits Commercial Catch from 2000-2015”.

Figure33:Infofishreportson12MileCreekinCentralQueensland


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Infofish-SuntagWebsites

Infofishmaintainsthefollowingwebsites:InfofishAustralia www.infofishaustralia.com.auCrystalBowl www.crystal-bowl.com.au(currentlybeingupgraded)RockyBarraBounty www.rockybarrabounty.comInfofishalsomanagestheSuntagwebsites:Suntag www.suntag.org.auSuntaggers www.suntaggers.com.auSuntagAccreditation www.accreditation.suntag.org.au

Figure34:Suntagwebsitehomepage

The InfofishAustraliawebsiteprovides informationon thebusinessandaccess to reports.The Crystal Bowl website is currently being upgraded. It provides access to real timemonitoringdashboardsandto regional forecasts.TheSuntaggerswebsiteallows fishers toregisterwithSuntag,puerchasetaggingequipment,viewtaggingvideosandarangeofotherresources.TheRockyBarraBountywebsitecoversthefishingcompetitionheldeachyearontheFitzroyRiver.TheSuntagwebsitehomepageisshowninfigure34andprovidesdetailsoftagging, reporting recaptures, how to get invovled and access to Suntag dashboards andotheresources.


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Infofish-SuntagFacebookPages

Facebook,Twitter, YouTubeand Instagramare someof theplatforms thatarepartof theever-growing competition for people’s time. Facebook has become a prime medium fordistributingrealtimeinformationfromSuntagandotherInfofishprojects.EachprojecthasitsownFacebookpagetocomplimentthewebsite.InfofishFacebookpagesare:CrystalBowl www.facebook.com/infofish.crystal.bowlRockyBarraBounty www.facbook.com/RockyBarraBountyInfofishalsomanagestheSuntagFacebookpage:Suntag www.facebook.com/Suntag.QueenslandFor the first timeposts on the Suntag Facebookpagehave exceeded an average reachof10,000(10,750).Therewere33postsfortheyearwithatotalreachofalmost354,000andthe best single post had a reach of almost 47,000. Figure 35 shows the Suntag Facebookpagewhilefigure36showsthereachofeachoftheposts.

Figure35:SuntagFacebookpage

Figure36:TimelineofSuntagFacebookpostsin2016-17

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Infofish2017Database

TheInfofish2017onlinedatabaseisthecentralhubforthecollectionandstorageofarangeoffisheriesdatafromSuntag,WestagandInfofishCitizenScienceprojects.Thedatabaseislocatedathttp://qld.info-fish.net/infofishand requiresa secure login foraccess.Figure37showsimagesstoredinthedatabase.Someofthefeaturesofthedatabaseare:ª Thedatabasenowhasover1.3millionfishrecords(Qld1.16million,WA42,000andNT

31,000)ª Includes tagging data collected by Suntag, Westag in Western Australia and tagging

datafromMcArthurRiverandDalyRiverintheNorthernTerritoryª Allowstaggerstoviewtheirowntagging,recapturesandawards(readonly)througha

secureloginandpassword(currentlyover900registeredusers)ª Login page provides the latest statistics including, top 10 taggers for month, top 20

taggersfortheyear,topspeciesfortheyearandrecapturesthismonthª Photographs,videosandstandardfishimagesstoredalongwithtextdataª DatabaselinkedtoGoogleEarthtoalloweasyandnearrealtimevisualisationofdataª RecapturescanbelodgedonlinethroughtheSuntagwebsitewithinstantfeedbackon

thefishdirectfromthedatabaseª Taggingandotherdatacanbe lodgedonlineorviaemailwithover98%ofdatanow

lodgedelectronicallyª Incorporationofrecruitmentsurveydataincludingsitedetailsandphotographs

Figure37:ImagesoffishstoredintheInfofish2017database


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Technologypartnerships

SuntaghasusedHallprinttagssince its inceptionandsowiththedevelopmentoftagdatacollection (Trackmyfish) and information delivery (Crystal Bowl dashboards) it becamelogicaltomovetowardmarketingacompletetaggingpackage.AsHallprintalreadymarkettags worldwide this opens the opportunity to market Trackmyfish and Crystal BowldashboardsinternationallyalongwithHallprinttags.Figure38showsthehomepageoftheHallprintwebsite.

ThispartnershiphasyieldedthefirstinternationalclientinBelizeinCentralAmerica.

Figure38:Hallprintfishtagswebsitehomepage


51

Suntagin2016-17

SuntagHighlights2016-171

ª The establishment of Suntag Australia Inc in 2016 was the most significantchangeinSuntagmanagementinthepastdecade

ª Total fish and crab records in the database now exceed 1.15 million recordswithover782,000taggedfishand61,000recaptures

ª Atotalofover10,100taggers (500thisyear)havenowparticipated inSuntagandover18,000fishershavereportedtherecaptureofataggedfish(950thisyear)

ª Over the past 10 years 35 Frequent taggers (T1 fishers) have accounted for96,000 (35%) of the total number of fish tagged while the remaining 3,270taggersaccountedfor119,000(43%)ofthefishtagged

ª Over the past 10 years fish stocking groups accounted for 40,000 (14%) fishtaggedandresearchers23,000(8%)

ª MickDohntremainsthetoptaggeroverallhavingtaggedatotalofover25,400fishor3.3%ofthetotalfishtagged

ª Infofish recruitment surveys are now fully integrated into the database with1,040surveysand68,500fishrecorded

ª Fishingtripswithcatchandeffortdetailsnowtotal48,100(2,200thisyear)ª Barramundi is the most tagged species with 257,000 tagged and 19,000

recaptured(over22,400includingmultiplerecaptures)ª The overall recapture rate for fish, excluding crabs was 7.9% with a 6.6%

recaptureratefor2015-20(to2017)ª The release rate of recaptured fish for the past 13 years was over 60% and

almost75%forthepast3yearsª The released rateof legal sized fishby recreational fishers (excluding taggers)

nowexceeds40%forBarramundiandDuskyFlathead,30%forMangroveJackandover80%forAustralianBass

SuntagBackground

Suntag commenced in 1986 as the Sportfish Tagging Program under ANSAQ to obtainmovementandgrowthofkeyrecreationalspecies. Inthemid-1990s itbecameSuntagandhasbeenmanagedby Infofishsince1995.Over its30years ithasgrowntobeoneof thelargest fisheries’ databases in the world where data have been mostly collected byvolunteers.SuntagisnowtheprimaryrepositoryoftaggingdatainQueenslandfortaggingcarriedoutby Suntag taggers, FQ researchers, fish stocking groups, government and communitymonitoringprogramsandsomeresearchinstitutionsanduniversities. 1AllfiguresbasedonSuntagrecordsinthedatabaseat30June2017


52

InfofishandSuntagnowhavea substantialdataset spanninga30years timelineanddatahavebeenusedforawiderangeofpurposesincluding:

ª Growthandmovementª Stockassessmentsª Monitoringstockedfishª Realtimemonitoringª Stockpredictionsª Assessingrecruitmentª Assessinglocal/regionalfishingª Impactofchangesto

regulations

ª Marineparkplanningª Fishsurvivalª Environmentalimpact

assessmentsª Ecosystemmodellingª Climatechangeª Ecosystemandfishhealthª Assessingfishingtrends

includingchangesinluretypes

FishinSuntagDatabase

Thedatabasepasseditsmostsignificantmilestonewithover1millionfishandcrabrecordsinthedatabasein2013.CurrentstatisticsfortheSuntagsectionofthedatabase(addedin2016-17):

ª 1,156,700fishrecords(38,100)ª 782,600taggedfish(19,500)ª 61,800recaptures(1,600)ª 48,100fishingtripswithcatchandeffort(2,200)ª 325,000otherfishfromcatchrecords(7,000)ª 1,040recruitmentsurveys(120)ª 68,500fishfromrecruitmentsurveys(10.200)ª 4,080photographsoftaggedandrecapturedfish(320)

Total fishadded to thedatabaseeachyear in the last10 years is shown in figure39. Themostfishwereaddedtothedatabasein2007-08when108,170fishwereadded.

Figure39:Totalfishaddedtodatabaseeachyearfrom2007-08to2016-17

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SuntagParticipation

NumbersparticipatinginSuntagareshowninfigure40.Atotalof10,100taggershavenowparticipated inSuntaghavingtaggedfishsince1986-87. In2016-17therewere502fishersthat tagged at least one fish. A total of over 18,000 fishers have participated in Suntagthoughreportingtherecaptureofataggedfish.In 2016-17 therewere over 950 fishers that reported the recapture of a tagged fishwithmanyfishersrecapturingmorethanonefish.Atotalofover1,450fisherscontributeddatatoSuntagthisyearthroughtaggingfish,reportingrecapturesandcatches.The steady decline in fishers tagging over the past 10 years reflects a general decline inparticipationinrecreationalfishingandafallinfishingclubnumbers.Thefallthisyearistheresult of some ANSAQ taggers leaving Suntag due to the organisation setting up analternativetaggingprogram.Therewereover500taggersthattaggedatleast1fishthisyearwith105newtaggersregisteredthisyear(about1every3days).

Figure40:SummaryofparticipationinSuntagfrom2007-08to2016-17

FishTaggedandRecaptured

Figure 41 shows the number of fish tagged and recaptured each year in the past 10years. In 2016-17 there were 19,500 fish tagged and 1,600 recaptures (includingmultiplerecaptures)recorded.Tagnumbersforthisyearwill increaseas latedataarereceivedandthetotalwillbearound20,000.From2007-08to2011-12therewereover25,000fishtaggedineachyear.Thefallin2012-13and2013-14wasduetoreductionsinfundingissuesaswasalsothecasethisyear.Whilefundingwashalvedthenumbersoffishtaggedwerecomparablewith2012-13and2013-14.

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Figure41:Fishtaggedandrecapturedeachyearfrom1986-87to2015-16

CategoriesoftaggersFigure46showsthecategoriesoftaggersthathavetaggedfish.Theseare:

ª Frequenttaggers(taggedover1,000fish)ª OtherSuntagtaggers(taggedatleast1fish)ª Fishstockinggroupsª Researchers(QFandothers)

Over the past 10 years just 35 Frequent Taggers (T1 fishers in the top 1%) accounted for96,000 (35%) of the fish tagged while the remaining 3,270 taggers account for 119,000(43%).Fishstockinggroupshavetagged40,000(14%)andresearchers23,000(8%).MickDohntremainsthetoptaggerswith25,400fishtaggedor3.3%ofthetotalfishtagged.

Figure42:CategoriesoftaggerparticipationinSuntag2007/08-2016/17

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SuntagKeySpeciesTaggedandRecaptureRates

Barramundiremainsthemosttaggedspeciesandwasthefirstspecieswhereover200,000fish were tagged. The total number of Barramundi tagged is now 257,000 with 19,000recaptures of individual fish and 22,400 total including multiple recaptures. Numbers ofBarramundi tagged were boosted from 2004 when fish stocking groups released largenumbersof taggedBarramundi into impoundments andwaterways. Theoverall recapturerateforBarramundirecapturedonceis7.4%howeverisashighas19.0%intheFitzroyRiverestuaryand19.1%in12MileCreekinCentralQueensland.AustralianBassisthesecondmosttaggedspecieswith77,000taggedand5,800recapturedonceandarecapturerateof7.5%.Figure43showsthenumberofthetop10specieswiththecorrespondingrecapturerate.While many fish are recaptures several times the recapture rate here is based only on asinglerecaptureofeachfish.Specieswithover5,000fishtaggedthathaverecaptureratesabovetheaverage6.8%includeDuskyFlathead(8.2%),GoldspottedRockcod(9.9%),GoldenPerch(7.8%),MudCrab(14.5%),RedEmperor(12.1%)andBlackspottedRockcod(11.9%). Species with recapture rates below 5% include Yellowfin Bream (3.8%), Barred Javelin(2.6%), Pikey Bream (4.9%), Speckled Javelin (2.3%), Giant Trevally (3.6%) and SchoolMackerelat(1.9%). SaddletailSnapperhasthehighestrecapturerateat13.3%ofanyofthefishspeciestagged.This result is interesting as the survival rate for released Saddletail Snapper fromexperimentalworkis50%andoneofthelowestsurvivalratesforanyspeciesassessed.Thedifferencemostlikelyresultsfromfishbeingtaggedinshallowwater(lessthan20m)wherebarotraumaislessofanissue.

Figure43:Totalnumbersoftop10speciestaggedandtheirrecapturerate

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SuntagRecaptureRate

The Suntag recapture rate has been used for a number of years as a coarse indicator oftrendsinfishingeffort.Whiletherearemanyfactorsthatinfluencetherecaptureratemostofthesearenearconstantfromyeartoyearorsmall intheireffectontherecapturerate.The greatest variable is fishing effort and this can be demonstrated by comparing therecapture rate from heavily fished and remote lightly fished locations eg BarramundirecapturerateinFitzroyRiveris19.0%from34,500fishtaggedandforWeipais1.6%from37,200fishtagged.The recapture rate was simply calculated as the ratio of the total number of all fishrecapturedover timecomparedwith the totalnumber taggedover that same time.Somedatathatwerenottypicaloffishingeffortwereexcluded.2Theoveralllong-termrecapturerate for all fish, excluding crabs, at the end of 2016-17 was 7.9%. The recapture rate for2010-15was6.5%.Therecaptureratefor2015/20hasonly2yearofdataandtheratewas6.6%.Figure44showstheoveralland5yearrecaptureratesfrom1985-90to2015-20(partonly)forallfish.Thissuggeststhatfishingeffortpeakedfrom1990-95,fellsignificantlyfrom1995-2000andhasremainedsteadyataround6.5%sincethenwithanincreasefrom2005-10.

Figure44:Recaptureratefrom1985-2017pereach5yearperiod

Figure45showsthenumberofparticipantsandparticipationratesinrecreationalfishingasa percentage of the Queensland population from 1996-2014. This shows a drop in thepercentageofthepopulationparticipatinginfishingfromthemid1990sto2014.Thetrendinparticipationisalsoreflectedinareductionoffishingeffortoverthesametime.

2Datafromfishtaggedinnofishingzones(greenzones)inKeppelBayin2007-08and2011-12andMudCrabwerenotreflectiveofnormalfishingeffortandwereexcluded

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Figure45:ParticipationratesinrecreationalfishinginQueenslandfrom1996-2014-RFish

surveys1996-2004andStatewidesurveys2000,2010and2013-14

SuntagReleasedFishRate

Theratethatrecapturedtaggedfisharereleasedeachyearallowsthetrendinthenumbersof fish released tobemonitoredover time. The released fish ratehas been calculatedbycomparing thenumberof recaptured tagged fish thatare released to the totalnumberofrecaptures each year for Suntag taggers and other recfishers (excludes Suntag taggers),howevertheanalysisdoesnottakeintoaccountwhetherthefishwereoflegalsizeornot. Figure46showsthereleaserates forSuntagtaggersandrecfishersover the last30years.There is a clear trend among recreational fishers towards releasing more fish with thereleaserateforthepast13yearssince2003-04over60%.Since2001-02therecaptureratefor other than Suntag taggers has been over 30% and since 2013-14 has been over 40%.Suntagtaggershavehadaconsistentlyhighreleaserateoftaggedfishofover90%almosteveryyearsince1991-92. Figure 47 shows the release rate of recaptured legal sized Barramundi, Dusky Flathead,AustralianBassandMangroveJackbyrecfishers(excludingSuntagtaggers)overthepast30years. Thesewere fish that could have been legally kept. For Barramundi up to 1989 theminimumlegalsizewas500mm,from1989-1999 itwas550mmandthenroseto580mm.ForDuskyFlatheadthelegalsizewas300mmfrom1985-2002,was400-700mmfrom2002-2009 and 400-750mm from 2009-2015. For Bass the legal length was 300mm and forMangroveJackwas350mm.There isaclear trendover the30yearswithanever-growingpercentageof legal size fishbeing released forall 4 species. The trend for the saltwater specieshas followeda similarpathwayoverthattimewiththerateforeachofthespeciesexceeding40%forthefirsttimethisyear.Barramundiare leadingthereleaseratebeingover40%forthepast3yearsandalmost 60% this year. The release rate of legal size Bass has been considerable andconsistentlyhigherthanthesaltwaterspeciesandwasover80%thisyear.

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Figure46:PercentageofrecapturedtaggedfishreleasedbyrecreationalfishersandSuntag

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Figure47:TrendinrecapturesreleasedbyrecfishersforlegalBarramundi,Flathead,MangroveJackandBass

SuntagLureType

From 2000 taggers have been able to record the lure type that they have used howevertherewereinsufficientrecordsuntil2002.Sincethentherewere47,000recordswherethelure type was sufficiently recorded to categorise lures as either hardbody or softbody.Hardbody lures includesminnow types, jigs, spoons, slugs,bladesand flieswhile softbodyluresincludesthewholerangeofsoftplasticunscentedandscentedandsoftvibes.

Figure48showsthepercentageof lurestypesrecordedeachyear. In2002hardbodylureswereusedtocatch96%offishtaggedonlures.In2003therewasadramaticincreaseintheuseofsoftbody luresthatcoincideswiththe introductionofagreaterrangeofsoftplastic

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luresincludingtheSquidgyrange.Forthenextdecade,throughto2013,hardbodyluresstillwerefavouredwith50-60%offishcaught.However,from2014onwardssoftbodylurestookoverandhavedominatedtheluretypeataround70%sincethen.

Thechangelikelycoincidedwithimprovedsoundertechnologyandtheuseofsoftvibesindeeperwater.Overallsoftbodyluresaresuitableforalargerrangeofspecies,habitatsandfishing styles and are generally cheaper than hardbody lures and that is reflected in thechange.

Figure48:Trendinuseofhardbodyandsoftbodyluresfrom2002-2017

Westagin2016-17

WestagHighlightsfor2016-173

Westagtaggingandfishingtriphighlightsfortheyearwere:ª A total of over 1,040 taggers have now participated in Westag and 870 fishers have

reportedtherecaptureofataggedfishª Totaltaggedfishinthedatabaseisnowover36,600andover1,320recapturesª Key species tagged with recapture rates were Samsonfish 10,060 (2.5%), Barramundi

4,080 (3.4%), Mangrove Jack 3,950 (3.1%), West Australian Dhufish 2,000 (9.5%) andSailfish1,880(0.1%).

WestagBackground

Westag commenced in 1998 and is managed by ANSA WA. Westag adopted the Infofishdatabasein2011andInfofishhasprovidedtechnicalsupportsincethen.In2014InfofishranaCitizenScienceworkshop inconjunctionwithWestag inPerth lookingtoprovideamorecoordinated approach to citizen science and tagging. A report titled “Developing a Citizen

3 AllfiguresbasedonWestagrecordsinthedatabaseat30June2017

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Science Culture among Western Australian Recreational Fishers” is available outlining theoutcomesfromtheworkshop.

FishinWestagDatabase

ThisyearWestagdatawere incorporated intotheInfofishdatabasetoovercometheneedtomanageandmaintainseparatedatabases.CurrentstatisticsfortheWestagsectionofthedatabase(addedin2016-17):

ª 41,900fishrecords(1,000)ª 41,600taggedfish(860)ª 1,600recaptures(45)

WestagParticipation

A total of 1,120 taggers have participated inWestag having tagged fish since 1988-89. In2016-17therewere83participantsthattaggedatleastonefish.Therehavealsobeen950fishersthathavereportedarecaptureofataggedfishwith38reportingarecapturein2016-17.Participation in Westag over the past 10 years is shown in figure 49. Over the 10 yearsnumbersparticipatinginWestagpeakedin2010-11at164.From2012-13whentherewere42taggerstherehasbeenasteadyincreasethroughto2016-17.

Figure49:SummaryofparticipationinWestagfrom2007-08to2016-17

WestagFishTaggedandRecaptured

TheWestag sectionof thedatabasenowhasover41,600 tagged fish records. Therehavebeenover1,570recapturesoverthesameperiod.Theoverallrecapturerateis3.8%.Figure50showsthenumberoffishtaggedandrecapturedeachyearoverthepast10yearsfrom2007-08to2016-17.In2016-17therewere854fishtaggedand44recapturesrecorded.

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This year tag data from the West Australian Fishing Foundation (WAFF) release of 2,100taggedMullowayin2013/14wereaddedtothedatabase. Thenumberof fishtagged inthe last fewyears isgreaterthanshownastaggershavenotsubmittedalltagrecords.Effortsareunderwaytocollectoldtaggingrecordsasthereareanumberofrecaptureswherethereisnocorrespondingtagrecord.

Figure50:Westagfishtaggedandrecapturedeachyearfrom2007-08to2015-16

WestagKeySpeciesTaggedandRecaptureRates

Therewere10specieswhereover1,000fishweretaggedasshowninfigure51.Keyspeciesand their recapture rates are Samsonfish 10,073 (2.6%), Mangrove Jack 5,219 (2.6%),Barramundi5,095(3.3%),Mulloway3,412(6.7%),WestAustralianDhufish2,340(10.3%).

Figure51:Westagkeyspeciestaggedandrecapturerates

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Whilemanyfisharerecapturesseveraltimestherecaptureratesherearebasedonlyonasinglerecaptureofeachfish.Specieswitharecapturerateofover10%wereMullowayandWest Australian Dhufish. Other species where the recapture rate was above the overallaverageof3.8%werePinkSnapper(7.3%)andBlackBream(4.8%).Specieswith a low recapture rate of less than 1%wereBlackMarlin (0%), Sailfish (0.1%),SpangledEmperor(0.4%),CoralTrout(0.8%)andSpanishMackerel(0.5%).

WestAustralianDhufish

From1996-98to2016-17therewere2,350WestAustralianDhufishtagged.Figure52 showsthenumberstaggedeachyear,average lengthandthesizerangeof fishtaggedoverthepast10years.ThelargestDhufishtaggedwasafishof1,260mmin2002/03.

Figure52:WestAustralianDhufishtagged,averagelengthandsizerange Depthofcapturewasrecordedfor2,161Dhufishandfigure53showstherecapturerateforfishtaggedatdifferentdepths.Therecapturerateforfishtaggedinover100mdepthneedstobetreatedwithcautionduetothelownumber(14)offishtagged.Thehighestrecaptureratewasforfishcaughtfrom0-19mat10.4%andfrom20-49mat10.1%.Thereappeartobelittledifferenceintherecapturerateforfishtaggedindepthsupto50m.Releasemethodwasrecordedfor1,117Dhufishandfigure54showstherecapturerateforfishreleasedusingdifferentreleasemethods.Thehighestrecapturerateof11.4%was forfishreleasedusingshotline(releaseweightusedtoreturnfishtothebottom)whileventinghasthelowestrecapturerateof7.4%.

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Figure53:WestAustralianDhufishtaggedatdifferentdepthsandrecapturerates

Figure54:WestAustralianDhufishtaggedandrecaptureratefromdifferentrelease

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Mulloway

From1996-98to2015-16therewere3,412Mullowaytagged. In2013-14theWestAustralianFishingFoundation(WAFF)released2,100taggedMullowayrangingfrom290-320mmintheGreaterPertharea.

ThisyearWAFFhandedover the tagand recapturedata toWestag tocontinue tomanage thedata into the future.Of the taggedMulloway released therewere34recaptures through to Jan 2015. Figure 55 shows the distance that the fish wererecapturedfromtheirreleasepoint.

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Figure55:Mullowaytagged,averagelengthandsizerange

NorthernTerritoryin2016-17

NorthernTerritoryKingAshBayProject2009-2012

From2009-2012 Infofish carried out amonitoring program focused on Barramundi in theMcArthur River at King Ash Bay. This resulted in 6,300 fish tagged including 5,980Barramundi.Theprojectalsocollectedcatch records throughboat rampsurveys.A reporton the project is available from the Infofish website http://infofishaustralia.com.au/king-ash-bay/titled“McArthurRiverMonitoring”.

Figure56:McArthurRiverMonitoring2012

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DalyRiverCrystalBowl

In 2016 Infofish worked with NT Fisheries and Amateur Fisherman’s Association of theNorthernTerritory(AFANT)onthedevelopmentofaCrystalBowlassessmentofBarramundiintheDalyRiver.Thisinvolvedusingtaggingandcatchdatafromthe2majorcompetitionsontheDalyRiver,theBarraClassicandBarraNationals,alongwithdatafromNTFisherieselectrofishingsurveys.Thisallowedtrendsincatchratesandfishsizestobeassessed.Figure57showspartoftheassessmentundertakenforBarramundiintheDalyRiver.

Figure57:PartoftheCrystalBowlassessmentofBarramundiintheDalyRiver


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Wheretoin2017-18?

ThereleaseoftheQldGovernment’sSustainableFisheriesStrategyinMay2017includedanincreasedemphasisonmonitoring.FollowingameetingwithQldFisheriesandGBRMPAinJune 2017 Infofish is developing a proposal titled “Fisheries Citizen ScienceMonitoring inQueensland2017-2020”.At this stage the proposal is under development, but the aim is to use a citizen scienceapproach to provide information in real time to influence fisher’s decision making andinformmanagementagenciesonkeyelementsofQueensland’srecreationalfisheries.This will require many elements of recreational fishing data collection to be broughttogether,alongwiththetechnologydevelopedbyInfofishtoprovidearangeofinformationinrealtime.The challenge will be to gain the support of recreational fishing groups and to attractsufficient funding to implement the range of data collecting proposed. Infofish hasundertakenascientificanalysisofwhatdataarerequiredandthefocuswillbeinrecruitingT20fishersthattargetthespeciesandlocationstobemonitored.AsT20fisher’scatchratesaremoresensitivetochangesinfishstocksthiswillshowupsoonerintheircatchrates.ThefocusofTrackmyfishwillbearoundcollectingtaggingandcompetitiondata.WithABTtournaments and Rocky Barra Bounty adopting Trackmyfish this will expand its use incompetitions.Othercompetitionsarealsoexpectedtotakeuptheapp.Infofish is also looking to expand its business internationally.With a business partnershipwithHallprintandaninitialclientinBelizeinCentralAmericathisworkhascommenced.Thepace of expansion will depend on what happens in Australia and the take up of thetechnologyoverseas.What is certain is that there will be continual change and that the pace of change willaccelerate.


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