Tinaroo Anglers Urged To Share Their Mangrove Jack Catch

2 September 2002

The Department of Primary Industries is appealing to anglers wetting a line in Tinaroo Dam to assist them in a study being undertaken to review the success of mangrove jack restocking in the impoundment.

Queensland Fisheries Service extension officer Malcolm Pearce said the study was looking at the “catchability” of mangrove jack fingerlings once they had matured.

“A total of 4,478 mangrove jack fingerlings, ranging in size from 22 millimetres to 158 millimetres, have been stocked into Tinaroo Dam since February 2000,” Mr Pearce said.

“To date, there have been 6 confirmed recaptures of mangrove jack from this stocking – two and a half years after they were first released.”

Mr Pearce asked anglers who landed tagged mangrove jack in Tinaroo to contact the DPI so studies of growth rates and other data can also be collected.

“As this study is about the ability of recreational anglers to catch mangrove jack in an impoundment, I would love to hear from anybody that has caught mangrove jacks of any size in Tinaroo Dam.

“The information I am particularly seeking is date of capture and size of fish. If anyone is keeping legal sized mangrove jack caught in Tinaroo Dam I would also like to obtain the head of these fish to check for microtags and age the fish.”

Malcolm Pearce can be contacted at the Northern Fisheries Centre in Cairns, telephone 40 350 130.

The first legal-sized mangrove jack (the minimum size limit is 35 centimetres) caught in Tinaroo was just over two years old and would have been a fingerling in the original 2000 stocking.

“Growth rates of this fish was very impressive, and it was about a third bigger than an equivalent aged mangrove jack in the wild,” Mr Pearce said.

“Jacks from the second stocking would now be about 300 days old and should be about 200 mm in length,” he said.

Further information
Malcolm Pearce Fisheries Officer Ph 40 350 130
Andrea Corby Media Officer Ph 47222 648

Department of Primary Industries Media Unit
GPO Box 46 Brisbane Q 4001 Ph 07 3239 6380
DPI Call Centre 13 25 23 (weekdays 8 am to 6 pm)

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