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Tasmania Chapter

We bring people together to help protect and restore the places you love to fish.

OzFish is dedicated to helping local rec fishers across Australia take control of the health of their rivers, lakes and estuaries. We partner with members and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of our waterways.

What we do:

Work with fishers to make local fishing grounds healthy, vibrant and more productive.
Share ideas on how to improve, restore and protect fish habitat.
Seek grants and support for hands-on habitat restoration.
Provide events, resources, education and research that support fishing groups to achieve local outcomes

Tasmania is world renowned for its breathtaking landscapes, crystal clear waters and fantastic fishing.

The traditional owners of Tasmanian land, sea, and water are the Leetermairremener, Linetemairrener, Loontitetermairrelehoinner, Toorernomairremener, Poredareme, Laremairremener, Tyreddeme, Portmairremener, Pydairrerme, and Moomairremener people.

The recently established OzFish Tasmania Chapter are keen to roll up their sleeves and tackle fish habitat projects across the entire state. Members of the Chapter are local fishers who want to make a positive contribution to Tassie’s fish habitats including seagrass meadows, kelp forests and saltmarshes.

One in four Tasmanians are recreational fishers and the Chapter aims to create a space where fishers from all walks of life can connect. They firmly believe that they can make the biggest impact by working together.

If you’re after an adventure in the great outdoors, the fly fishing in Tassie is second to none.

Many of Tasmania’s waterways are crystal clear, meaning that it’s also home to some of the world’s best sight fishing.

For those more inclined to fish in the saltwater, Tasmania has bounties on offer, for a keen fisher, there is always something biting. Tasmania’s game fishing waters stretch from Flinders Island in the north-east to the Tasman Peninsula in the south – only 20 minutes from the shore in some places.

St Helens on the east coast is considered Tasmania’s saltwater fishing headquarters. Highly prized species include yellowfin tuna, striped marlin, albacore, striped tuna and mako shark.

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Kelp Tracking

Kelp forests are a important habitat for fish in the coastal environments of southern Australia and support numerous species important to recreational fishers, including rock lobster, abalone, trumpeter and calamari, all of which live among or nearby kelp forests.

OzFish is working with researchers, universities and community groups to restore the lost giant kelp forest in Tasmania. It is hoped this model can be used in other restoration projects around the globe.

Tasmanian recreational fishers are encouraged to log sightings of remnant kelp via the Kelp Tracker app that was developed in partnership with the University of Tasmania and TARfish, and supported by The Climate Foundation and Huon Aquaculture.

Environmentally Friendly Moorings

Traditional chain moorings can be highly destructive to the seafloor and benthic ecosystems such as seagrass meadows which are important nurseries for juvenile fish. That’s why, in collaboration with NRM South, the CSIRO and TARFish, OzFish plans to install 12 Environmentally Friendly Moorings (EFMs) which equates to 1.2 hectares of restored seagrass meadows.

By engaging with local stakeholders including mooring contractors, state and local government bodies, yacht clubs, UTAS, and the recreational fishing community, OzFish are also working to increase the overall uptake of EFMs.

Chapter members will be part of decision making, assist with monitoring and have the opportunity to attend educational workshops.

Saltmarsh Restoration

Saltmarshes are another key fish habitat. Research has found that they make a proportionally high contribution to fish diets and many targeted recreational fish species rely on saltmarshes for some stage of their life cycle.

OzFish and NRM South are joining forces to restore some of this important fish habitat by re-flooding stranded saltmarsh communities in Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon.

The project will also include revegetation works, fencing restored areas to protect them from livestock, and monitoring to ensure the best possible environmental outcomes.

Fish Sampling

Chapter members are also contributing to research on fish diversity, abundance and gut contents in southern Tasmanian saltmarsh.

OzFish recreational fishers are collecting samples of fish for researchers at the University of Tasmania. Samples have been collected from Ralphs Bay, Barilla Bay and Marion Bay, which are home to some of the most biodiverse salt marsh vegetation communities and ecologically important sandflats in southern Tasmania.

Nursery Habitat for fish in saltmarsh – Video Courtesy – Dr Vishnu Prahala from University of Tasmania

LATEST NEWS

Fish Habitat Forum inviting Tasmanians to learn more about their local fish habitat

In partnership UTAS, OzFish held the Fish Habitat Forum in Moonah’s Cooleys Hotel in 2019. The forum provided anglers with the latest information on improving fish habitat and advice on how they can get involved with projects in and around the state. With CEO Craig Copeland speaking alongside Dr Cayne Layton from the University of Tasmania, the forum was aimed at recreational fishers who wanted to learn more about the environments that support fish and the actions that are underway to address problems within the local environment.

Find Out More

Rec Fishers find endangered kelp

In a major win for fish and the environment, new sightings of endangered Giant Kelp have been reported by recreational fishers in Tasmania following the launch late last year of the Kelp Tracker phone app. Tasmanian recreational fishers were urged to help scientists trying to research and restore the State’s disappearing Giant Kelp forests by logging sightings of remnant kelp via the new phone app. CEO of OzFish Unlimited Craig Copeland said that it has been very successful so far with over 100 sightings from 22 separate fishers.