In the past decade more than 2,600 fishers in the West Coast Bioregion have donated over 36,000 demersal fish frames providing valuable insights into the age of those fish, their length, growth patterns and much more.
Western Australian fishers who’ve donated fish skeletons have demonstrated their positive stewardship of our fisheries in helping researchers gain important data from the frames.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) scientists also use DNA samples from donated fish frames in their ongoing work, applying innovative genetic techniques to assess the connectivity of fish from different ocean areas and explore how resilient they may be to a changing climate.
DPIRD Senior Research Scientist Emily Fisher said DPIRD required 300 to 500 fish frames from each of the key demersal species each year to continue the research.
“With boat-based fishing for demersal species in the West Coast Bioregion allowed from this Saturday 23 September until the end of the school holidays on Sunday 8 October, it’s a timely reminder that we are keen to get fish frames from WA dhufish, pink snapper, and baldchin groper,” Dr Fisher said.
“The fish frames you donate can be fresh or frozen, with head and guts intact (you can keep the wings), but for large fish like dhufish, you can donate just the head if you wish.”
Along with the frames, DPIRD is also urging fishers to add a note or label to their donated frames with the location and date of the capture. Also including a GPS location would be highly valuable, or the distance and bearing from the boat ramp where you launched.
Anyone interested in research feedback, can provided their name, phone number and email. Importantly any information supplied will be treated with the strictest confidence.
At
www.fish.wa.gov.au/frames find out where the participating stores and DPIRD offices are along the WA coast, to drop off fish skeletons. To enquire about DPIRD staff picking up frames, please email
fishframes@dpird.wa.gov.au.
Dr Fisher said ear bones from the donated frames, otherwise known as otoliths, provided highly valuable information on the age of individual fish.
“The otoliths of the oldest known WA dhufish we’ve studied in our research showed a fish caught off Dongara in 1997 was 41 years old,” Dr Fisher said.
“Using fish frames provided by recreational fishers, we can assess the population structures in our important demersal fish species and gathering valuable age data and DNA helps us to understand the recovery rate of species under management.”