River blackfish, one of our highly valued and priority native species of fish, received a boost to local populations last Saturday with the release of 16 adult fish adjacent Cooriemungle Creek. The day was attended and celebrated by the local community, Corangamite CMA, researchers and the VFA – with many helping hands to assist in the safe release of the fish.
• The fish were successfully bred in captivity and released by Native Fish Australia member Stephen Mueller, and we celebrate and congratulate him on his perseverance and passion for this achievement – one of the veryfew times captive bred blackfish have been released in Australian history.
• The VFA has worked to achieve improved management and recovery of blackfish through recent work with recreational fishers (including Native Fish Australia and VRFish) to give blackfish better protection by reducing the recreational bag limit from 5 to 2 and increasing the size limit from 23cm to 30cm. This ensures anglers can still enjoy blackfish as a recreational species and they are conserved into the future. The VFA has also been working with CMA’s to improve blackfish habitat, and the Arthur Rylah Institute to better understand blackfish population genetics.
