Error! No text of specified style in document. Growth, Movement and Survival of Stocked Fish in Impoundments and Waterways of Queensland 1987-2008 Report prepared for Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries by Infofish Services Bill Sawynok and John Platten Infofish Services PO Box 9793 Frenchville Qld 4701 Published June 2009 Cover: Cover design by All-Biz-Art Information in this publication is provided as general advice only. For application to specific circumstances, professional advice should be sought. Infofish Services have taken all steps to ensure the information contained in this publication is accurate at the time of publication. Readers should ensure that they make the appropriate enquiries to determine whether new information is available on a particular subject matter. Report No: STSG-2008-21 Infofish Services All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission from Infofish Services. page 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................................5 1. Summary.........................................................................................................................................................6 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................................10 2. Tagging of stocked fish in geographic divisions...................................................11 2. Aims..................................................................................................................................................................14 3. Methods ........................................................................................................................................................14 3.1 Growth of Stocked Fish .................................................................................................................14 3.2 Movement of Stocked Fish.........................................................................................................15 3.3 Survival of Tagged Fish Released in Batches..........................................................16 3.4 Survival of Fish in Impoundments where Low Water Levels were experienced ..........................................................................................................................................................16 4. Growth of Stocked Fish .................................................................................................................17 4.1 Growth of Stocked Barramundi.............................................................................................17 4.2 Growth of Tagged Barramundi Released in Batches .......................................20 4.3 Growth Curves for Barramundi .............................................................................................26 4.4 Discussion on Barramundi Growth....................................................................................27 4.5 Growth of Stocked Australian Bass...................................................................................27 4.6 Growth Curve for Australian Bass ......................................................................................29 4.7 Discussion on Australian Bass Growth ..........................................................................29 4.8 Growth of Stocked Golden Perch.........................................................................................30 4.9 Growth Curves for Golden Perch .........................................................................................31 4.10 Discussion on Growth of Golden Perch..............................................................31 5. Movement of Stocked Fish.........................................................................................................32 5.1 Movement of Stocked Barramundi.....................................................................................32 5.2 Discussion on Barramundi Movement............................................................................49 5.3 Movement of Stocked Australian Bass...........................................................................50 5.4 Discussion on Australian Bass Movement..................................................................55 5.5 Movement of Stocked Golden Perch.................................................................................55 5.6 Discussion on Golden Perch Movement........................................................................60 6. Survival of Tagged Fish Released in Batches..........................................................61 6.1 Batch Releases of Barramundi...............................................................................................61 6.2 Batch Release of Murray Cod...................................................................................................70 6.3 Discussion on Survival of fish in Batch Releases.................................................71 7. Survival of Fish in Impoundments where Low Water Levels were experienced ..........................................................................................................................................................73 page 2 7.1 Low Water Levels and Australian Bass and Golden Perch.........................73 7.2 Discussions on Low Water Levels.......................................................................................76 8. Implications for Future Stocking.........................................................................................78 List of Figures Figure 1: Geographic divisions based on catchments where stocking has occurred 11 Figure 2: Locations where fish have been tagged in impoundments and waterways 1987-2008 13 Figure 3: Average annual growth rate for stocked Barramundi and natural populations (red) for comparison 19 Figure 4: Growth of Barramundi released in batches into Lake Tinaroo in 2003 and 2004-05 21 Figure 5: Growth of Barramundi released in batches into Trinity Inlet and the Barron River from 2002 to 2005 22 Figure 6: Growth of Barramundi released in batches in Black and Aplin Weirs on the Ross River in 2000 and 2007 23 Figure 7: Growth of Barramundi batch released into Alligator Creek (Fitzroy River) in 2005 24 Figure 8: Growth of Barramundi batch released into Moura Weir in 2005 and 2006 24 Figure 9: Growth of Barramundi released in batches into Lake Awoonga in 1998 and 2000 25 Figure 10: Growth curves for freshwater stocked locations compared to the Fitzroy River estuary 26 Figure 11: Summary of annual growth rates for stocked Australian Bass and Noosa River fish 28 Figure 12: Growth curves for Australian Bass in a number of impoundments and Noosa River 29 Figure 13: Summary of annual growth rates for stocked Golden Perch and for Dawson River fish 30 Figure 14: Growth curves for Golden Perch in 3 impoundments 31 Figure 15: Movement of Barramundi stocked in Trinity Inlet and Barron River 34 Figure 16: Movement of Barramundi stocked in Mulgrave and Russell Rivers 35 Figure 17: Movement of Barramundi stocked in Johnstone River 35 Figure 18: Locations where Barramundi tagged in the Johnstone River have been recaptured elsewhere 36 Figure 19: Where Barramundi tagged in Ross River weir pools were recaptured 37 Figure 20: Stocked Barramundi in Ross River weir pools and monthly rainfall from 1994-2008 37 Figure 21: Flow over Aplin Weir in February 2007 38 Figure 22: Flow over Black Weir in February 2007 38 Figure 23: Movement of Barramundi stocked in Ross River weir pools 39 Figure 24: Locations where stocked Barramundi tagged in Ross River weir pools have been recaptured outside the river 39 Figure 25: Movement of wild Barramundi tagged in the Haughton River 40 Figure 26: Movement of stocked Barramundi in Clare Weir 40 Figure 27: Movement of tagged Barramundi stocked in Clare Weir 41 Figure 28: Movement of tagged stocked Barramundi in Hedlow Creek and Serpentine Lagoon 41 Figure 29: Movement of tagged stocked Barramundi in Moura Weir 42 Figure 30: Movement of tagged stocked Barramundi in Bedford Weir 43 Figure 31: Movement of stocked tagged Barramundi in Alligator Creek and at Laurel Bank on the Fitzroy River 43 Figure 32: Movement of wild fish tagged in the Fitzroy River estuary 44 Figure 33: Movement of tagged Barramundi from stocking locations to the Fitzroy River estuary and beyond 44 Figure 34: Comparison of river flows at Riverslea on the Fitzroy River and Barramundi stocked and tagged at Hedlow Creek, Serpentine Lagoon, Alligator Creek and Laurel Bank on the Fitzroy River 45 Figure 35: Stocked tagged Barramundi released at Laurel Bank on the Fitzroy River and recaptured in Frogmore Lagoon 46 Figure 36: Movement of stocked fish tagged in Lake Callemondah 47 Figure 37: Movement of stocked Barramundi tagged in Lake Callemondah 47 Figure 38: Comparison of monthly rainfall at Gladstone and Barramundi stocked and tagged in Lake Callemondah 48 Figure 39: Lake Callemondah dam wall in a low flow event 48 Figure 40: Distance moved compared with days out for Australian Bass in Lake Somerset 52 Figure 41: Australian Bass tagged in Lake Somerset and recaptured outside the lake 52 Figure 42: Distance moved compared with days out for Australian Bass in Lake Boodooma 53 Figure 43: Australian Bass tagged in Lake Boondooma