November 29, 2018
Recreational fishers in East Gippsland will soon be searching for estuary perch after the Victorian Fisheries Authority stocked a massive 67, 500 fingerlings across three waterways in late November. Estuary perch are a popular target among local anglers but the decline in populations over recent times has caused anglers to target other species in the area such as dusky flathead and bream in Lake Tyers.
Lake Tyers, the Bemm River and the Snowy River saw a total of 67,500 fingerlings stocked between them. The aim of this massive stocking of estuary perch into Lake Tyers, which had 40,000 fingerlings stocked, is to re-establish a self-sustaining population which has deteriorated over recent years. The stocking is part of a wider marine stocking program aiming to rebuild estuary perch populations in various coastal locations.
Local anglers played a pivotal role in this mammoth stocking. In August, volunteers from the Marlo and Bemm River fishing clubs participated in the Great Perch Search and assisted Fisheries staff in collecting estuary perch broodfish. The best broodfish were carefully transported to a private hatchery in Narooma, NSW, and bred the now released fingerlings.
