The Mary River Catchment Coordinating committee is using National Threatened Species Day to put a call out for help. They need to get the word out to all anglers about the closed season for fishing, all fishing upstream (south) of Gympie, in the Mary River and all its tributaries.
MRCCC Chairman Ian Mackay explains, “The closed season has been in place for four years now but we’re still finding a lot of fishermen who’ve not heard about it.”
That could be a costly ignorance, as Fisheries officers will be patrolling and advise that anyone found fishing and claiming not to know about the closed season will still land a fine, which is around $600.
The three month closed season began on August 1 and will end on October 31 covering the critical time in the reproductive cycle of the endangered Mary River cod.
“It’s not only in the Mary itself but in all the tributaries upstream of Gympie,” Mr Mackay says. “These include Six Mile creek, Amamoor Creek, Kandanga creek, Yabba Creek, Obi Obi Creek and Little Yabba Creek.”
The only places where fishing is permitted south of Gympie during the closed season is in the three dams; Borumba, Lake Macdonald and Baroon Pocket dam.
“Threatened Species Day commemorates the death in captivity of the last Thylacine. We don’t want the Mary River cod to follow it over the precipice of extinction,” says Mr Mackay, “so we’re calling on fishermen to play their part, a vital part.”
“We want to see the cod population bounce back from the brink and the best way to do that is to ensure successful uninterrupted breeding.”
