NSW DPI Fisheries dusky flathead stocking program

Five key recreational fishing havens in NSW have now received a significant boost of dusky flathead fingerlings, marking the end of the most successful dusky stocking season to date.

Over recent weeks, 23,200 fingerlings have been released into Lake Macquarie, a well-known flattie hotspot to the north of Sydney.

On the South Coast, the ever-popular St Georges Basin received 14,000 duskies, while 16,000 went into Lake Conjola and 12,000 into the Burrill Lake.

These fish were produced for DPI by Narooma Aquaculture and are a top up to the first batch of flatties stocked in these systems last year.

The total number of flatties released by DPI this season is a whopping 76,500.

The stocked fish are expected to have good survival rates and should reach legal size of 36cm within two to three years.

They will be monitored by NSW DPI researchers with the help of volunteer citizen scientists.

This work is designed to evaluate the growth of the fish, their movements and impact of fish releases on the recreational fishery.

These stocking events are a great example of the fishing community's fees at work.

Contributing funds were also provided under the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy.