THE FRESHEST CATCH ABOUT LINE FISHING ON THE REEF

Recreational and commercial fishers, charter boat operators, managers, conservationists and researchers will meet in a workshop to discuss fresh research from CRC Reef about line fishing on the Great Barrier Reef.

"The workshop will cover the social, economic and biological aspects of reef line fishing on the Great Barrier Reef. It is an initiative of eight postgraduate students from James Cook University who have been working with CRC Reef on the Effects of Line Fishing project," said Dr Bruce Mapstone, leader of the ELF project with CRC Reef.

"The workshop will highlight the relevance of this work for managers and end-users," said Dr Mapstone. "Communicating our results is a vital part of CRC Reef so we can ensure our research can be used by industry and managers to make a difference."

Sam Adams found that different coral trout species reach maturity at different sizes. She will point out that it is definitely not a case of 'one size fits all' when it comes to minimum legal size limits for different coral trout species.

Jim Higgs will talk about fishing behaviour of the recreational fleet. His research will help managers to better predict and manage the movements of recreational fishers.

Geoffrey Muldoon will talk about the economics of the live reef fish trade. He will look at the prospect that higher prices for live fish will add considerable value to the catch of reef fish, but may also provide added incentive for inactive fishers to go fishing more often.

Dave Welch has shown that the fish caught on a line are not always typical of the size of fish swimming under the boat. His work will give a better picture of fish populations so that researchers and managers can better interpret information gained by line fishing.

Understanding the biology of target fish species is essential for good management of the reef line fishery. Researchers will talk about their work on the biology of small snappers (Jake Kritzer), red-throat emperor (Ashley Williams), bommie rock cod (Bob Mosse) and red bass (Ross Marriott) and the implications for management of these harvested species on the Great Barrier Reef.

The workshop will be held at Townsville Motor Boat & Yacht Club, Plume St, Townsville from 9.00 am until 5.00pm on Wednesday 14 March.

Media interviews will only be held between 10.30am and 11am.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact: Dr Louise Goggin, Communication Coordinator, CRC Reef on 07 4729 8404 or 0402 243116