AFTER several years of highly technical behind-the-scenes work, NSW DPI hatchery experts say they have “cracked the code” when it comes to developing and refining mulloway breeding technology.
The end result of this work is the successful stocking of 90,000 mulloway fingerlings into two key recreational Fishing Havens – and DPI says there’s plenty more to come.
The DPI’s Port Stephens Fisheries Institute marine hatchery team has been working with wild-caught mulloway broodstock – which are notoriously fickle and difficult to handle – and earlier this year managed to produce a successful spawning event, resulting in thousands of mulloway eggs which eventually turned into fry and then healthy fingerlings.
DPI released 80,000 of the juvenile mulloway into the Georges River/Botany Bay in Sydney’s south with an additional 10,000 fingerlings released into the Hastings River on the NSW Mid-North Coast.
The juvenile mulloway measured up to 40mm on release and are expected to grow very quickly, reaching legal size of 70cm in approximately 3-4 years.
It is hoped the recent stocking events will boost existing populations of mulloway in these highly popular Recreational Fishing Havens. The mulloway stockings are being monitored by DPI researchers to assess distribution and survival of the fish in the systems.
For more information: www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
