IF you have ever wondered what your fishing license fees go towards this is one project that is funded which is set to improve knowledge of kingfish fisheries.

Project Kingfish is a science initiative led by the Sydney Institute of Marine Science in collaboration with Macquarie University, the UNSW and NSW Department of Primary Industries.

The project aims to satellite track movements of mature-sized yellowtail kingfish (>83 cm fork length) to fill current knowledge gaps about their regional movements, habitat use and connectivity, and gain insights into where the east Australian stock may be spawning and recruiting to the coast.

Kingfish are known to frequent Port Stephens, and as a pelagic species they travel up and down the coast.

Catching a Kingfish is a great sport fishing experience and to top it off the species make for great eating.

To achieve success the research team will be partnering up with experienced anglers over the next two years to find, catch and tag suitable fish in various locations off the NSW coast as well as offshore seamounts/islands and other sites of relevance to the stock.

The first satellite tag was recently deployed on a 125 cm kingfish in the waters off Norfolk Island by Project Kingfish collaborator Dr Thomas Clarke and experienced local angler Scotty Greenwood.

The tag is very much like a minicomputer.

It will log data on swimming depth, activity (via acceleration logged in three dimensions), sea temperature and light levels (used to reconstruct the movement track) but won’t report back until it detaches from the fish and floats to the surface a few months later.

Once at the surface, the recorded data stream to passing satellites and are then relayed to the research team for analysing the fish’s movements.

The data generated are expected to enhance current understanding of the stock.

Once more fish have been tagged, these data should enable the team to explore patterns of kingfish connectivity between coastal/offshore waters and other states, seasonality in regional movements as well as identifying potential spawning sites.

 

By Marian SAMPSON