Publication Date

12-1969

Series Number

Fisheries Report V (5)

Publisher

Department of Fisheries and Fauna, Western Australia

City

Perth

Abstract

A programme of selling marron (Cherax tenuimanus) to country dwellers for stocking farm dams, has been carried out by the Pemberton Trout Board for the past few years with considerable financial gain. In this case permission to sell the marron was granted by the Department of Fisheries and Fauna so as to encourage the provision of stocks of this large, freshwater crustacean for farmers in the dryer inland areas of the Southwest which are remote from sources of fresh fish and from natural stocks of marron.

The marron, however, have been sold indiscriminately, upon request, without any advice as to the degree of suitability for them of the recipient dams. There has been no appraisal of the general success of the scheme or advice given as to how best to manage stocks of marron which have been successfully established.

This study was started by the Department because apprehension has arisen from the knowledge that a similar, earlier scheme with trout faltered after widespread sales. The latter occurred because the scheme was based on a secondhand knowledge that trout had been very successful in a few dams in the dryer areas of the Southwest where the scheme was mainly directed (as is the marron scheme). These few dams were not typical of the dams in these areas and the majority of dams there are not suitable for trout.

This study then seeks to determine the degree of success of the marron scheme over the past few years, the characteristics of farm dams where marron may be well-established, the levels of abundance which may be expected where marron are established and the methods by which the stocks of marron may be best utilized and maintained.

Number of Pages

40

Keywords

Marron, Freshwater crayfish, Cherax tenuimanus, Western Australia, Farm dams, Dams

Disciplines

Aquaculture and Fisheries | Business | Natural Resource Economics | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Sustainability

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