Working with anglers to monitor the Murray cod fishery in NSW
Codcatch aims to emulate the Basscatch and previous native fish citizen science programs to gather information on Murray Cod and Golden perch
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Codcatch is currently a river based citizen science program with trials having been completed within the Murrumbidgee River
What information is collected?
Catch - this includes reporting the number of individuals of all species
Effort - this included reporting how long anglers fished for even if no fish were caught.
Lengths - the lengths of all captured fish will be documented and may include photos for validating species.
The catch, effort and length data can then be used to understand fish population, size structure and changes in catch rates and fishing effort.
Now that trials have been completed, the program will be expanded to other NSW Rivers throughout 2022.
Initial trials have been conducted at the Leeton Bidgee Classic, Hay Classic, and Wagga Lure Casters. This will expand to approximately 10-15 events monitored annually across NSW.
What have the trials shown?
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The trials have shown that large amount of data can be collected from just a few events. With information (catch rates and fish sizes) collected on a range of native species including threatened species such as silver perch and trout cod.
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Despite the cancellation of a number of events in 2020/21 data has still been collected at some locations. We are hoping that 2022 will bring the return of fishing events.
Looking ahead
Over the next couple of years Codcatch will expand into impoundments to ensure data is also collected on these important fisheries.