If you practice “Catch and Release” or fish for your immediate needs, you need to tag the Barramundi that you release. If you catch a tagged Barra please report that tag number to the Suntag 1800 007 001 phone number on the tag or to the MIFSG phone number 0431 745 083.
The reasons for tagging and reporting captures are numerous, the most important reason is the information we get about growth and survival rates. This information helps MIFSG to plan for the future to develop and maintain a sustainable exciting fishery that everyone enjoys. MIFSG will be able to manage the fishery to a point where a benchmark capture rate of one fish per hour per person is caught.
If you catch a tagged fish, record and report the tag number, size of the fish and where you caught it. Add your name, and address. You will receive a certificate of recapture and know that you have done your bit for the community while having fun at the same time. Many MIFSG anglers practice catch and release but, as long as the Barra are caught legally we are happy to get information back even if you keep the fish.
Be careful if you catch a Barra with a tag and you want to release it. They have sharp gill rakes that can slice your hand open. Don’t lift it by its head for a picture, spine damage will occur. Keep it in the water or use the “comfort lift” (that is, having a firm grip on the bottom jaw with your thumb inside the mouth, placing your hand and forearm under the Barra’s belly and cradling it close to your body while lifting it from the water) Do not remove or cut tags from the Barra that you are releasing, record the information and let them swim off to be caught another day.
MIFSG is a volunteer community group that stocks local dams for community benefit