For those seeking Western Australia's wild-caught marron, found only in the State's South-west, this sustainably managed recreational fishery offers fishing experiences unlike any other along scenic rivers and dams.
The Murray, Blackwood, Donnelly and Warren rivers provide popular marron fishing locations in natural bushland areas or there's also good options at irrigation dams around Harvey and Waroona, and Wellington Dam near Collie.
More than 9,500 licences have been issued for the coming season, which begins at midday on 8 January. The season closes at midday on 5 February.
Fishers are reminded to follow bag and size limits and to ensure they are using legal fishing gear when 'marroning'. This information and more can be found in the up-to-date Marron Recreational Fishing Guide. If you see illegal marron fishing activity, report it to FishWatch on 1800 815 507.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) researchers have been conducting ongoing marron monitoring in several key dams like Waroona, Logue Brook and Harvey, and various rivers including the Murray, Collie, Preston, Blackwood, Donnelly and Warren. They also conduct monitoring in the Stirling Dam and Shannon River, which are not open to the public for marron fishing.
Surveying in these areas provides the research team with important information about the natural variations in marron populations and insights about climate change might be impacting stocks.
DPIRD research officer Blaine Hodgson said information like size, sex and reproductive stage has been collected to help build our understanding of marron stocks and inform management.
"We also gather environmental data like salinity, water temperature and dissolved oxygen for each location to help us assess ongoing impacts of climate change," Mr Hodgson said. "These are sites that DPIRD has monitored in the past, so we can compare our results to historical data."
"Careful monitoring of the marron fishery ensures that we can manage fishing pressure as well as changes in the climate and physical environment, including reduced rainfall and runoff into rivers and dams."
Mr Hodgson said rangers from the Undalup Association Inc. recently joined DPIRD scientists to survey the Blackwood River on Wadandi Boodja. "We demonstrated our scientific research techniques and worked together trapping, measuring, sexing and tagging marron," he said.
"Marron have considerable cultural importance to Noongar people and there are plans to develop future collaborative research programs with traditional owner groups throughout the South West."
Fishers can assist researchers during the marron season by reporting any tagged marron they catch.
