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

As with recreational fishing, a variety of fish species were caught by competitors,
including bream, whiting, flathead and tailor, with mixed species bags being the
norm. However, reporting of fishing competitions was not always consistent. In
many cases only the greatest, or principal catches were reported. Sometimes the
total number of fishers competing and total catch was reported, providing us
with an average number of fish caught per competitor:


“The second competition for the year of the Tewantin Fishing Club took place on
January 31, 13 competitors taking part. The fishing took place at the Heads, where
fish were plentiful. Following the rule the competitors away from the town should
only last two hours, the fishing commenced at 8pm and ended at 10pm. All
members used mullet bait […]. A total of 225 fish were caught...” The Brisbane
Courier, 3 Feb 1926.


“The fishing competition for the McFie trophy was held in the Tewantin reach of
the Noosa River on Tuesday night, April 27, when 18 competitors took part. The
winner was W. Hooper, with 21 fish…” The Telegraph, 7 May 1926.


When split into ‘best’ catch (i.e., the top catch reported per competition) and
‘average’ catch (i.e., the total number of fish divided by the number of
competitors), quantitative records span a period of 67 years, from 1913-1980.
The majority of competitions were recorded in the late 1920s/early 1930s, and
again in the 1950s and 1960s/70s (Fig. 9). Statistically significant declines were
witnessed over time in both best and average catch rates (best: r2=0.13, p=0.001;
average: r2=0.06, p=0.021).


Records of the numbers of hours fished rarely occurred for competitions. From
the descriptive data, it appears that the allocated fishing time was variable,
however, the lack of data means that catches must be reported per ‘fishing
session’, rather than per hour.




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