2015-11-10 - P&O Agenda - Item 7, Attach 1 - Historical Ecology of the Noosa Estuary Fisheries

both are virtually nil, although some good hauls of mullet have been made and
crabs are plentiful. The rush of rain water from the Kin Kin and Upper Noosa River
is keeping the Lake waters in flood and almost fresh.” Gympie Times, 2 Feb 1918.


And even in those early days, the occasional voice could be heard stating that the
fishing was not as good as before:


“Fishing very brisk. A party from Martin's Hotel caught 85 fish on Thursday, and 97
on Friday - only fishing a few hours. Although the fishing is not as good as it was 20
years ago, the anglers still get a few good days now and again.” The Brisbane
Courier, 15 Jul 1928.


During the 1920s and 30s, regular reporting of fish catches and the number of
people fishing allows the number of fish caught per angler per fishing session to
be calculated (Fig. 8a). The majority of catches comprised mixed fish, most
commonly whiting, bream and flathead. While the majority of catches comprised
less than 50 fish per angler per fishing session, some catches were considerably
higher. In some cases the number of hours fished was also described, providing
number of fish per angler per hour (Fig. 8b). While variable, catch rates could
reach 20 or more fish caught per angler per hour at times.


This habit of describing the number of fish caught seems to have declined in later
years, hence only a snapshot of catches and catch rates can be extracted from
these sources, with most catches reported between 1920 and 1940.
Furthermore, it is likely (see later section on ‘bias’) that newspapers only
reported the best catches. Hence, these figures should be assumed to be the
highest catches and catch rates for that period. Figure 8 includes catches both in
the river and North Shore near Tewantin, although the numbers of trips
recorded on the North Shore were considerably fewer. No significant differences
in catch rates between the river and North Shore were observed (median catch
rate river=26.67 fish per angler per fishing session, median North Shore=19.88,
Mann-Whitney U=1,952, p=0.186).




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