Publication Date
12-2024
Series Number
347
Publisher
Government of Western Australia
City
Perth
ISBN
978-1-921845-90-1
ISSN
2202-5758
Abstract
The Smooth Marron (Cherax cainii) (‘Marron’) is endemic to freshwater dams and rivers of south-west Western Australia. The Recreational Marron Fishery is managed as a single stock within the South-West Recreational Freshwater Resource and is highly vulnerable to over-exploitation due to the biological characteristics of the species (e.g., low fecundity, localised populations) as well as external environmental (e.g., habitat loss, reduction in rainfall) and human factors (e.g., fishing, land clearing).
Due to this vulnerability, this species has been the focus of research, monitoring and management since the 1970’s. Recreational fishing for Marron was first licensed under the Amateur Fisherman’s licence in 1963, with a fishery-specific licence introduced in 1986. The fishery is currently managed using input controls to restrain effort (e.g., seasonal and spatial closures, gear restrictions and licences) and output controls to restrain catch (e.g., minimum size limits, daily bag limits, possession limits).
The Marron licence database has been used as a sampling frame to select fishers for phone-recall (2000 – 2021) and online-recall (2022 – 2024) surveys. This report provides a time series of annual estimates of participation (number of licensed fishers), fishing effort (days fished) and the retained and released catches (by numbers) of Marron statewide and by waterbody (public dams, rivers) across 25 years of monitoring the recreational fishery.
Participation in the Recreational Marron Fishery (Marron licence holders aged five years or older) in 2024 (8 January – 5 February 2024) 66% or 8,592 fishers (95% CI 8,226 – 8,957). Total fishing effort by licensed fishers for Marron in 2024 was 28,272 days fished (95%CI 26,375 – 30,170); of which 64% or 18,186 (16,538 – 19,833) was in rivers and 36% or 10,087 (8,681 – 11,492) in dams.
The retained catch (numbers) of Marron by licensed fishers in 2024 was 82,435 individuals (95%CI 74,680 – 90,191); of which 67% or 54,825 (48,211 – 61,438) was caught in rivers and 33% or 27,611 (22,394 – 32,828) in dams. The released catch (numbers) of Marron by licensed fishers in 2024 was 102,461 individuals (95%CI 91,244 – 113,678); of which 62% or 63,244 (53,705 – 72,782) was released in rivers and 38% or 39,217 (32,075 – 46,360) in dams. The overall release rate in 2024 was 55%.
Although the retained catch has fluctuated across years, the catch range (defined by the 95% confidence intervals for the retained catch) has been within the acceptable catch range of 50,000 – 100,000 since 2003. Therefore, the Recreational Marron Fishery is currently deemed sustainable.
Ongoing monitoring and management of the Recreational Marron Fishery is required to ensure it continues to be sustainable in an era of changing environmental conditions. A key part of this is ensuring that the annual online-recall surveys continue to provide information at scales appropriate to support management decisions.
Number of Pages
29
Keywords
recreational fishing, marron, south west australia, fishing, fish, dpird, wa
Disciplines
Aquaculture and Fisheries
Recommended Citation
Smallwood, C.B., Ryan K.L., Lai, E.K.M., Trinnie F.I. and Long A.P. 2024. Recreational fishing for Marron in south-west Western Australia from 2000 – 2024: estimates of participation, effort and catch. Fisheries Research Report No. 347. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia. 29 pp.