Snapper season is well and truly underway and the snapper have been firing everywhere across Port Phillip and Westernport. Although this comes as no surprise to our fisheries scientists who undertook modelling that predicted the snapper boom prior to the season commencing.
Last year was one of the best snapper seasons recorded for both boat and land-based anglers. The trend continues this year with thousands of keen anglers getting outdoors and experiencing some of the best snapper fishing in the country, right here in Victoria.
With commercial nets removed from Port Phillip, free parking and launching at the state’s public boat ramps and the last 7 years delivering two of the best snapper spawning events on record, it’s a great time to be enjoying the sunshine and
catching a fresh feed of fish.
To assess the abundance of juvenile snapper and compare breeding seasons, our fisheries scientists collect fish measuring between three and 10 centimetres at night using specialised nets. Results are then compared to a dataset of more than 30 years.
Spawning success varies depending on a range of environmental conditions and high producing seasons are often followed by smaller production years which is a typical natural variation within wild fisheries.
In 2017 we had a record spawning year and what we saw in 2024 was an unprecedented snapper season in terms of catch rates according to our creel surveys.
Creel surveys involve interviews of fishers to ascertain what they caught, what they kept and how long they fished for, and they’re funded by your recreational fishing licence fees. There was a spawning drop-off in 2018, but fish from the 2017-year class will continue to be caught over the next few years as they migrate into our bays. Our more recent 2022 monitoring showed the third highest abundance of baby snapper since surveys began in 1993, so we expect to see great fishing continue!