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