North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

NT Govt Press release: 16 new fish discovered In Darwin Harbour

Sixteen new species have been discovered in Darwin Harbour, Fisheries Minister Kon Vatskalis
announced today.
Mr Vatskalis said the fish were recorded in Darwin Harbour using Baited Remote Underwater
Video Cameras (Known as BRUVS), which were placed in major fish habitats such as reefs and
wrecks around Darwin Harbour last dry season.
More than 200 hours of video was captured and studied, adding 16 species to the 400 already
identified in Darwin Harbour.
“This is great news for the Territory’s fisheries and reaffirms for us what we have been saying
for some time that is that our fisheries are amongst the most sustainable and healthiest in the
world,” Mr Vatskalis said.
“This is why the NT Government is opposes wide scale fishing bans as proposed by Australian
Marine Conservation Society recently.
“The NT Government has already put in the hard yards – we’ve introduced bag limits to protect
stocks on the Daly River, we’ve bought back fifteen commercial fishing licenses in highly
popular areas and our fisheries have been independently certified as being sustainable.
“And now we have camera evidence of just how healthy our fish are – we have discovered
another 16 species existing in our harbour.”
These cameras work by attaching a bag filled with fish attracting bait to one end of a pole, with
a video camera at the other end. Fish are drawn to the bait-filled bag and then captured by the
camera.
Mr Vatskalis said the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport
(NRETAS) and the Department of Resources (DoR) are continuing the program this dry season,
and are due to place the cameras near artificial reefs at Lee Point as part of the on-going
information gathering project.
“Fishing is part of the great Territory lifestyle, and ensuring we have healthy harbours is
important for the environment, local fishermen, tourists and the whole community.
“The project plays an important role in ensuring the on-going health of Darwin Harbour by
providing baseline data to be referred back to in years to come.
Ensuring there is no deterioration in the health of our biodiversity is a key target within the
Territory 2030 strategic plan and BRUVS will help achieve this.

LIST OF NEWLY IDENTIFIED SPECIES IN THE HARBOUR (links added by FFF)

• Spot-tail Shark - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spottail_shark
  Bluespotted Maskray - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Blue ... Henle-1841
  Cowtail Stingray - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowtail_stingray
  Tomato Cod - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Toma ... nnes-1828/
  Onion Trevally - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Onio ... ppell-1830
  Pennantfish - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Penn ... Bloch-1787
  Blackbanded Amberjack - http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_14994.htm
  Paddletail (snapper) - http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_9074.htm
  Yellowtip Threadfin Bream - http://www.bie.ala.org.au/search?q=Yell ... in%20Bream
  Swallowtail Seabream - http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index. ... l&id=10986
  Opalescent Goatfish - http://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/index. ... l&id=10567
  Pickhandled Barracuda - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Pick ... aena-jello
  Striped Barracuda - http://www.daff.qld.gov.au/28_14643.htm
  Bluebarred Parrotfish - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/Blue ... rsskl-1775
  Threadfin Leatherjacket - http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-pa-http%253A%2 ... %253D11018
  Silver Toadfish (norwest blowie) - http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/imag ... sceleratus

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Fair to say there are a few surprises here, I am trying to find out what the harbour boundaries of the survey were ... Matt

Silver toadfish.. oh god.. another animal that'll eat me.. argh

Interesting to see them all in the harbor. have seen most of them around the outer reefs of Darwin but only a few of them in the harbor. Plenty of those species in the south gutter so I guess they arent all that far out.

Last year was also a differnt year and a lot of fish that are normally seen slightly further to the south were caught in close to Darwin.

leatherjackets in darwin? really didnt think they would be up here

I've caught a leatherjacket from the wharf once.

Davey D wrote:leatherjackets in darwin? really didnt think they would be up here

Got plenty out at the pinnacles or Dundee and a few at nightcliff reefy areas.

Plenty out there we don't know about ... including cyclical changes.

Never heard of a big amberjack off Darwin.

Norwest blowie is interesting, I've seen a couple of little silver blowies around Darwin but on the west coast (WA) they are in plagues and they are a big, ferocious fish. I had one swim right up to my foot in the surf at Steep Point, if I had not seen it I'm sure he would have had a go. They were chewing hooked fish down to a head before you could get them in. You wouldn't want to fall in bleeding and be gnawed to death

Caught a juvenile amberjack at coburg once.

Where was the video taken, near the wharf would be different to out near 6mile (still in the harbour)

intreasting read.

wonder if any of them would go good on a fly.i always knew there was another annoying puffer.

Time for a list of 16 new species of fisho discovered in Darwin Harbour