GOFISH-22
REVIEW 2019-2022
Trends in recreational fisher activity
Fishing activity by fishers recapturing tagged fish is being used as an indicative sample of the
fisher population based on the relatively random mixing of tagged fish with the untagged
population to get a sense of the impact of COVID-19, weather events and other external
influences on fisher activity in recreational fishing in Queensland. Activity by taggers is also used
to provide a comparison in some parameters to determine differences between the 2 groups.
As the impact of Covid-19 on recreational fishing has diminished other factors such as flooding,
droughts, climate, cost of fuel and technology change are likely to play a greater role in
influencing fisher activity. This element of Crystal Bowl will continue to evolve to provide insights
into trends in recreational fisher activity. This is one of the few opportunities to get real time
information at a low cost that can influence decision making by those that interact with our
fisheries resources.
There are 4 aspects of activity that are being monitored:
• Fisher effort - a change in the number of recaptures is likely a reflection of fishing effort
as recaptures are correlated to fishing effort.
• Fisher travel – a change in the distance travelled to go fishing reflects fisher activity and
that is measured by the distance from where the fisher lives to the recapture location as
a proxy for travel distance.
• Fisher days – what day of the week and month of the year when fishing occurs is a
measure of fisher activity influenced by a range of factors and is a measure of
opportunity.
• Fisher gender – the proportion of male and female in the fishing population is a
demographic measure that provides an insight into gender participation.
MONITORING LOCATIONS
Statewide (All of Queensland)
South East Queensland estuaries (Sunshine Coast - Gold Coast)
South East Queensland Impoundments (6 Bass impoundments)
Central Queensland impoundment (Lake Cania Bass)
Central Queensland estuaries (Fitzroy River – Curtis Island)
Central Queensland impoundment (Lake Awoonga Barramundi)
Hinchinbrook estuaries (Lucinda-Mission Beach)
Product of Infofish Australia
Supported by
Suntag
Initial funding by Fisheries
Research and Development
Corporation and Recfishing
Research
MEASURE
ACTUAL
GRAPH
QUEENSLAND
STATEWIDE PERSPECTIVE
All of Queensland
Key observations
Flooding in many areas had a significant impact on
fishing this year. The flooding disrupted activity,
particularly in Bass impoundments where fishing
conditions were poor from Mar-Sep. Spilling of Bass
dams saw significant numbers of fish leaving the lakes.
This saw a shift in activity from impoundments to the
rivers below the dams.
Flooding also affected fishing in southern estuaries
and in the Fitzroy River in particular where fishing
conditions remained poor for much of the year.
However Bass that spilled from the lakes boosted
fishing in SEQ estuaries once the conditions settled
down.
Covid reduced numbers of interstate visiting fishers
however there has been a rebound with more visitors
recapturing fish than before Covid.
Cumulative
recaptures
2019-2022
Recaptures
2019 1685
2020 1475
2021 1305
2022 1240
22-21 -5%
22-19 -26%
Recapture fisher’s
category
Local
Intrastate
Interstate
2019-2022
Local
2019 1099
2020 964
2021 724
2022 813
Recapture fisher’s
category
Local
Intrastate
Interstate
2019-2022
Local
2019 70%
2020 69%
2021 58%
2022 68%
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHERS
RECAPTURE FISHER'S CATEGORY
LOCAL INTR A STAT E INTE R STAT E
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHER'S CATEGORY
LOCAL INTR A STAT E INTE R STAT E
Interstate fishers
2019-2022
Fishers
2019 39
2020 26
2021 26
2022 50
Interstate fisher’s
origin
2019-2022
State
NSW 62%
VIC 27%
NT 4%
SA 2%
WA 2%
TAS 1%
OS 1%
Cumulative distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
2019-2022
Distance (km)
2019 147526
2020 110798
2021 163514
2022 159369
22-21 -3%
22-19 +8%
Average distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
2019-2022
Distance (km)
2019 88
2020 79
2021 126
2022 130
Average distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
Local (L)
Intrastate (QLD)
2019-2022
Av distance (km)
L QLD
2019 16 194
2020 16 188
2021 17 234
2022 19 217
Average distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
Interstate
2019-2022
Av distance (km)
2019 393
2020 310
2021 507
2022 982
Weekday fished
Taggers and recapture
fishers
2019-2022
Most
Tag Recap
Sat 21% 20%
Sun 20% 20%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHERS
INTERSTATE FISHERS
NSW
62%
VIC
27%
NT
4% SA
2% WA
2%
TAS
2%
OS
1%
INTERSTATE FISHERS
NSW VIC NT SA WA TA S OS
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
1-Jan 1-Feb1-Mar 1-Apr 1-May 1-Jun 1-Jul 1-Aug 1-Sep 1-Oct 1-Nov 1-Dec
KM
STATEWIDE CUMULATIVE DISTANCE ADDRESS TO
RECAPTURE 2019-2022
2019 2020 2021 2022
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
2019 2020 2021 2022
FISHER'S AVERAGE DISTANCE (KM)
0
50
100
150
200
250
2019 2020 2021 2022
KM
FISHER'S AVERAGE DISTANCE (KM)
LOCAL INTR A STAT E
Month fished
Taggers and recapture
fishers
2019-2022
Most
Tag Recap
Oct 13% 12%
Sep 10%
Feb 10%
Recapture fisher’s (ex
taggers) gender
2019-2022
Female
2019 5%
2020 6%
2021 6%
2022 7%
Where fishers live (red stars) that recaptured fish
2019-2022
MEASURE
ACTUAL
GRAPH
SOUTH EAST QLD
ESTUARIES
REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
South East
Queensland
estuaries
Sunshine Coast
Brisbane
Gold Coast
SEQ estuaries grid
maps
Noosa River SC22
Maroochy River
SC21
Mooloolah River
SC20
Bribie PPB
Moreton Bay
MB01,MB02,MB03
Brisbane River
MB05
Coomera River
GC22
Nerang River GC23
Tweed River TWR
Key observations
Following flooding this year Bass spilled from most
impoundments and there was a shift in activity to
fishing below dams which intensfiied towards the end
of the year. This saw a significant boost in recaptures
in SEQ rivers and estauries.
Cumulative
recaptures
2019-2022
Recaptures
2019 209
2020 184
2021 126
2022 254
22-21 +102%
22-19 +22%
Monthly recaptures
2021-2022
Most
2021
Nov 19
2022
Sep 50
Recapture fisher’s
category
Local
Intrastate
Interstate
2019-2022
Local
2019 165
2020 150
2021 119
2022 220
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1-Jan 1-Feb 1-Mar 1-Apr 1-May 1-Jun 1-Jul 1-A ug 1-Sep 1-Oct 1-Nov 1-Dec
RECAPTURES
CUMULATIVE RECAPTURES SEQ ESTUARIES
2019-2022
2019 2020 2021 2022
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SE P OC T NOV DEC
RECAPTURES
SEQ ESTUARIES RECAPTURES 2021 V 2022
2021 2022
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHERS
RECAPTURE FISHER'S CATEGORY
LOCAL INTR A STAT E INTE R STAT E
Recapture fisher’s
category
Local
Intrastate
Interstate
2019-2022
Local
2019 93%
2020 90%
2021 96%
2022 90%
Cumulative distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
2019-2022
Distance (km)
2019 3565
2020 3501
2021 2056
2022 4917
22-21 +139%
Average distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
2019-2022
Distance (km)
2019 27
2020 19
2021 17
2022 32
Average distance
where fishers live to
recapture location
(travel proxy)
Local (L)
Intrastate (QLD)
2019-2022
Av distance (km)
L QLD
2019 15 81
2020 13 86
2021 14 110
2022 15 93
Weekday fished
Taggers and recapture
fishers
2019-2022
Most
Tag Recap
Sat 21% 20%
Sun 24% 18%
Month fished
Taggers and recapture
fishers
2019-2022
Most
Tag Recap
Oct 10% 11%
Aug 10%
Nov 11%
Recapture fisher’s (ex
taggers) gender
2019-2022
Female
2019 6%
2020 4%
2021 2%
2022 4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHER'S CATEGORY
LOCAL INTR A STAT E INTE R STAT E
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
1-Jan 1-Feb 1-Mar 1-Apr 1-May 1-Jun 1-Jul 1-Aug 1-Sep 1-Oct 1-Nov 1-Dec
KM
SEQ ESTUARIES CUMULATIVE DISTANCE
2019-2022
2019 2020 2021 2022
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
2019 2020 2021 2022
KM
FISHER'S AVERAGE DISTANCE (KM)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
2019 2020 2021 2022
KM
FISHER'S AVERAGE DISTANCE (KM)
LOCAL INTR A STAT E
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
MON TUE WED TH U FRI SAT SUN
WEEKDAY FISHED
TA GGER S RECAPTURE FISHERS
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SE P OCT NOV DEC
MONTHLY ACTIVITY
TA GGER S RECAPTURE FISHERS
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2019 2020 2021 2022
RECAPTURE FISHER'S GENDER
MALE FEMALE
Fisher activity
Fish tagged (red-
orange heat map) and
recaptured (dots)
2019-2022
Fisher activity
Fish tagged (red-
orange heatmap) and
where recapture
fishers live (red stars)