The Maribyrnong river is a truly underrated fishing system within Melbourne’s westerns suburbs. The team at Fishing Mad were very proud to feature in a local campaign to rebuild native fishing populations, and add key improvements along this river. The campaign celebrates the approval of a $815,000 fund to be spent over 3 years which will be used to improve fishing on the Maribyrnong River. Fisheries Victoria, Melbourne water and Parks Victoria will all lay key roles alongside important local fishing groups such as Fishing Mad. This will include improved facilities and wide spread native fish stocking in the stretches between Flemington and Keilor.
The details will include the following improvements.
- New boat launching ramp and facilities on the Nong. This will really save boaters who are keen to fish the Nong a lot of time.
- Improvements to the quality of the waterways
- Stocking of 300,000 Estuary Perch fingering
- Installation of wood structure habitats for fish
- Studies and research into stocked fish behaviour and success rates
- Last year 130,000 estuary perch fingerlings were successfully released into the Maribyrnong River
As many followers of FishingMad would understand we love the Nong. Its a place were our fishing identity was created. We have hosted many family fishing clinics along this area and see this as very welcome news.
The Maribyrnong river upgrade timeline and plan for fishing
The state government has a firm initiative to stock 10 million fish per year into Victorian waterways by 2022. The fish stocking within the Maribyrnong river is just one of the pieces in that puzzle. The timeline has been documented in the diagram below. We attended the first stocking program at Canning Reserve in Avondale heights last year. Despite some unwelcome weather it was a memorable occasion. We have been reassured strict measures have been taken to ensure this fund is used to its full potential. Such as consultation with rowers and other active groups. This will include developing strategies to improve the water quality, pollution levels that make up a great ecosystem for the release of native fish species.
If you have any concerns, then we would encourage you to raise them with Victorian Fisheries directly on 136 186. Make sure that your feedback contributes to the success of this great opportunity. Hopefully, we continue to see more initiatives like this around Melbourne a focus of more launching facilities would be very welcome.
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