Opening of the Whitebait season

The annual whitebait fishing season starts on Thursday 1 October and runs for six weeks to 11 November in selected rivers around the State.

The success of the fishery each year is dependent on seasonal weather conditions, and this year, high water flows due to winter rains and spring floods are likely to hold back and disperse the whitebait runs in many rivers early in the season. As the season continues, however and the high flows subside, whitebaiters should have access to good numbers of fish.

If you want to fish for whitebait, you must hold a 2009 Whitebait licence (separate from a 2009-10 Angling Licence) and be aged over 10 years. You can buy a Licence, which costs $26.60, from selected agents and Service Tasmania stores. You must also abide by whitebait fishing regulations, which govern the catch and possession limits, and the method of fishing, as well as the season, time and waters open for whitebait fishing.

You can purchase a whitebait licence at all Service Tasmania shops the following stores:

Inland Fisheries Service, New Norfolk

Mountain Designs, Devonport

Smithton Sports, Smithton

Wells home hardware, Latrobe

Wigstons's Sports, New Norfolk

Somerset Newsagency, Somerset

Tassie Tackle & Outdoor, Burnie

Devonport Boat 'n' Tackle, Devonport

Wynyard Sports & Toy Kingdom, Wynyard

Corbs' Servo, Turners Beach

Ulitmate Fishing & Outdoors, Ulverstone

J J 's General Store, Zeehan

Forth Village Store, Forth

Bigfin Sports Fishing, East Devonport

Whitebait fishing regulations

Whitebait can only be taken between the hours from sunrise to sunset. The following waters are open for whitebait fishing during the season this year:  Little Forester, Brid River, Tamar River including Trevallyn Tailrace, River Derwent, Huon River, Rubicon River (except 50 m below the weir), Don River, Forth River (except within 100 m below the weir), River Leven, Inglis River, Black River, Duck River (except within 50 m below the weir), Pieman River and Henty River.

The maximum daily catch is 1 kg, the maximum catch per season is 10 kg and the maximum quantity that can be held by a license holder at any time is 10 kg. The whitebait net must not be greater than 120 cm in circumference and should not be fitted with any additional device (funnels, screens, wings etc) aimed at diverting fish into the net and impeding their escape. It should carry a tag showing the whitebait licence number held by the user who must be within 8 m of their net when fishing.

Poaching and illegal fishing

The regulations are necessarily restrictive in order to protect fish stocks, particularly the vulnerable Tasmanian whitebait (Lovettia sealii). This endemic species suffered a major population crash due to over-exploitation prior to the closure of the fishery in the 1970s. Since then, the whitebait fishery has been characterised by poaching and this has slowed recovery in certain regions, particularly the North West of the State where whitebaiting is most popular.

The fines for poaching are significant, and the Inland Fisheries Service has a history of successful prosecutions against poachers, particularly repeat offenders. In recent years the Service has strengthened its compliance effort with the assistance of Tasmania Police in joint surveillance and enforcement activities. Fishery rules have also been modified to enable poachers to be prosecuted more effectively.

Valuable information regarding poaching activities, particularly commercial scale operations, is often sourced from the local community and this is extremely helpful for targeting enforcement. If you know or hear of any illegal fishing activity, contact the Inland Fisheries Service immediately, during office hours on 6261 805 (or 1300 463474), or after hours on 0408 145768.

Whitebait species composition
Whitebait is a collective name for several species of small (30 – 70 mm in length) Tasmanian native fish that migrate from estuarine and coastal regions each year, forming upstream schools or ‘runs’ typically during late winter and spring.

These whitebait runs are commonly composed of six different species of fish, usually dominated early in the season by the Tasmanian whitebait (Lovettia sealii) or by juveniles of the common jollytail (Galaxias maculatus) and spotted galaxias (Galaxias tuttaceus). Climbing galaxias (Galaxias brevipinnis), Tasmanian mudfish (Galaxias cleaveri) and smelt (Retropinna tasmanica) are also often present in low numbers. The species composition of the runs varies with tide, time and location.

Most whitebait are juveniles (Galaxias spp), with the exception of Lovettia which are adults migrating to spawn. The galaxias juveniles migrate upstream past the tidal influence and take up residence in main streams and tributaries. Generally each species will occupy different reaches of streams and mature into adults. Lovettia spawn in the upper tidal reaches with most adults gradually dieing after spawning.

History of the whitebait fishery
Recreational and commercial fisheries for whitebait operated in Tasmania since the 1940s but both were closed in 1974 following several years of poor catches. The basis of the commercial fishery was the Tasmanian whitebait (L. sealii) which was taken in large quantities during this period, resulting in a major crash in its population and the collapse of the fishery. The main reason for the collapse was that the commercial fishery targeted spawning adults, which were removed before they had a chance to spawn and complete their one-year life cycle and this species has a naturally low reproductive success rate.

Monitoring of Lovettia populations showed that the species recovery after exploitation is extremely slow. However, research in the late 1980s showed that there was potential for a sustainable recreational whitebait fishery, providing fishing effort and timing was tightly controlled. As a result, a licensed recreational fishery for whitebait was reopened in 1990 but was limited to selected rivers, season and times, and with a restricted catch rate to ensure the sustainability of the fishery.

Sustainable fishery management

The management of the recreational fishery is aimed at protecting populations of Lovettia, which are particularly vulnerable to overfishing. The timing of the season and the selection of certain rivers, therefore, is designed to target the runs of juvenile common jollytail (G.maculatus) and spotted galaxias (G. tuttaceus) rather than Lovettia. By targeting whitebait species in the latter-part of the seasonal run, the majority of adult Tasmanian whitebait has an opportunity to spawn while the anglers keen to target whitebait, have the chance to lawfully take fish.

The fishery is dependent on seasonal weather variations, and is particularly affected by high water flows which may delay the whitebait runs. In 2006, coinciding with the release of the Whitebait Fishery Management Plan, the Service extended the season by two weeks to enable whitebait fishers greater opportunity to capture their seasonal limit. The Plan also identified those rivers susceptible to over-exploitation and developed a strategy for managing select rivers on a two-yearly rotational open-close system. A postal survey of whitebait fishers was also undertaken to gather catch and effort data on the fishery, in order to monitor and manage its sustainability.