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Summer Native Fish Stocking Bonanza

The new year has kicked off with a native fish stocking bonanza with the Victorian Fisheries Authority stocking close to a million native fish in the last few weeks.

While the stocked fish will take a few years to grow to a catchable size, here is where the latest fish were released:

  • Goulburn River (Goulburn Weir to Seymour) – 34,300 trout cod
  • Lake Big Meran – 10,000 Murray cod & 10,000 golden perch
  • Lake Boga – 70,000 golden perch
  • Boosy Creek – 3,000 Murray cod
  • Broken Creek – 10,000 Murray cod
  • Lake Charm – 50,000 golden perch
  • Lake Eildon – 45,900 Murray cod & 178, 000 golden perch
  • Kangaroo Lake – 70,000 Murray cod & 32,000 golden perch
  • Loddon River – 100,000 golden perch
  • Victoria Lake, Shepparton – 1,000 Murray cod
  • Blue Rock Lake – 40,000 Australian bass
  • Wimmera River – 100,000 golden perch
  • Taylors Lake – 15,000 golden perch
  • Green Lake – 15,000 golden perch
  • Broken River (Benalla to Shepparton) – 30,000 Murray cod
  • Broken River (Lake Benalla to Nillahcootie) – 35,464 Murray cod
  • Mitta Mitta River – 30,000 Murray cod
  • Cudgewa Creek – 4,000 Murray cod
  • Corryong Creek – 4,000 Murray cod

Earlier this month, we saw 45, 000 estuary perch released into the Barwon River near Highton which adds to the 30,000 fingerlings stocked in December. Along with the Barwon River, the Maribyrnong River (133, 000) and Snowy Rivers (12, 500) were also stocked with estuary perch for the very first time. Since 2002, Victoria has seen more than 800,000 estuary perch stocked into 18 waterways, making it the only state to stock estuary perch on a large scale. The stocked perch will take up to three years to reach a catchable size.

The Victorian Government plans to stock a massive 10-million fish per year by 2022 through their ‘Target One Million (Phase 2)’ plan. One way for anglers to track which fish are being stocked into their favourite waterways is to use the Victorian Fisheries Authority’s Fish Stocking Database, The database shows all fish stocking records dating back to 1990! Anglers can search by species, by waterway as well as a combination of both options. It is one way to keep track of the massive numbers of fish that are being stocked into our waterways.

VRFish Deputy Chairman, Steve Relf, stocking Lake Eildon with the Howqua Fishing Association & Victorian Fisheries Authority

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