Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, has announced that fish stocks along the coastline will receive a major boost with the NSW Liberals and Nationals Government implementing a new marine fish stocking program to enhance recreational fishing opportunities.

“This program will see widely sought-after Eastern king prawns stocked up and down the NSW coast, from Eden in the south up to Old Bar near Myall Lakes,” Ms Hodgkinson said.

“Plans are also underway to initiate Mulloway stockings in the future. This will require collecting wild caught broodstock and acclimating the fish to hatchery conditions before being ready to spawn.

“This program of stocking of fish and prawns in estuarine environments follows on from previous research trials of stocking mulloway and prawns, which evaluated ecological aspects and effectiveness of marine stockings.

“These successful stockings provided essential information for a comprehensive environmental assessment and development of a management strategy for implementation of an ongoing marine stocking program.

“This new program will build on the successful freshwater native fish and trout stocking initiatives in rivers and impoundments which have been boosting recreational fishing opportunities during the last 50 years.

“The NSW Government is proud to support the recreational fishing industry, which generates about $1.6 billion in expenditure to the NSW economy each year and creates about 14,000 jobs.

“This marine stocking project is another great example of how money raised through the sale of the recreational fishing fee is being invested back into projects and initiatives that directly benefit recreational anglers.”

The following 10 locations have been identified as potential stocking locations for Eastern king prawns this summer: Curalo Lagoon, Wallagoot Lake, Nelson Lake, Lake Tabourie, Burrill Lake, Lake Conjola, Swan Lake, Narrabeen Lagoon, Wamberal Lagoon and Khappinghat Creek.

For more information, visit www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/recreational/info/stocking/marine