BARRAMUNDI will be stocked into Lake Kununurra in WA’s East Kimberley region as part of a $700,000 four-year project that will boost fishing opportunities in the area.
The project funding was announced in the 2011-12 State Budget as part of the $2.3million allocation to the Department of Fisheries to deliver its part of the Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy.
WA Fisheries Minister Norman Moore said developing the barramundi fishery close to Kununurra would boost recreational fishing and create a valuable asset for regional tourism in the East Kimberley.
“Restocking will help re-establish barramundi in this area and has the potential to create a world-class ‘trophy’ barramundi fishery which is the envy of the world,” Mr Moore said.
“Many recreational fishers dream of catching a barramundi in Western Australia’s north and this innovative project will now be brought a step closer to reality for recreational fishers.
“The peak representative body of recreational fishing, Recfishwest, has given its full support to the project, which it called ‘a superb initiative’.”
The first round of stocking is expected to take place later this year. It will take two to three years before the barramundi are of legal minimum size – 550mm – to catch.
The Kimberley Training Institute (formerly Kimberley TAFE) would become responsible for releasing hundreds of thousands of juvenile barramundi into Lake Kununurra in the next four years.
Lake Kununurra is a 56km stretch of flooded river channel, created in 1963 after the completion of the Diversion Dam for the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.
