All about yabbies
Environment Victoria volunteer Kaye Cleary takes a look below the surface
Where are our yabbies going and are they getting smaller? Do you have childhood memories of sitting in the shade by the waters edge, pulling out yabbies; big monsters, fat-tailed mums-to-be, and small ones on their way to growing up?
An unquestioned pleasure of childhood… yabbies, like most everything else around me at that time “were there” for the taking. And have you seen how yabbies have been emerging from their dormancy with the recent floods? These yabbies are “big” but not as big as they used to be. Is this simply childhood imagination, like re-visiting the house we grew up in, the past house loomed larger in memory than what we see before us?
So I started to investigate. Yabbies are fascinating with their boom-and-bust populations – they can survive years of drought by burrowing into the wet mud and remaining dormant until the dry spell breaks. When the rains return, a formerly dry creek or lake is suddenly teeming with yabbies, large catches quickly follow and then the population equally suddenly vanishes. Why? The NSW Dept of Primary Industries doesn’t know - they tell us that the disappearance cannot be accounted for solely by heavy fishing – instead the reasons are “not properly understood”. The IUCN lists the common yabbie as “vulnerable” in their Red List of Threatened Species but not, as yet, “endangered”… so concerns about the sustainability of populations have reached the international watchdog.
Although yabbie population dynamics are so poorly understood, the Victorian government recently granted a 50% increase in the yabbie quota for recreational fishers. While we enjoy yabbie on the menu, most yabbies are destined as bait for fishing… bait caught by the bucket-full! Fisher people can now catch up to three 10-litre bucketfuls per day in Victoria, more than in other states. Surely we need to find out more about this species before we allow increased quotas and provoke a down-ward classification from “vulnerable” to “endangered”.
Comments
endangers yabbies
what sort ofyabbie is endangerd
because we caught some black ones in our dam
No Scientific data to support the 50% increase.
Recreational Fishers are now permitted to take 30 litres of whole yabbies or 5 litres of tails but not both. It was argued that the reason for the increase was that 20 litres of whole yabbies did not equate to 5 litres of tails and that 30 litres was closer. An FOI document revealed that there was no scientific data to show that 30 litres of whole yabbies was equivalent to 5 litres of yabby tails. The increase was based on an estimate. There was no thought in relation to the taking of an increase in bait sized yabbies. It would have been more appropriate to decrease the yabby tail volume rather than increase the whole yabby volume.
Save ths Murray River and the Murray River Spiny Crayfish
The Murray Spiny Crayfish is a listed species under the FFG Act but it has an open season to recreational fishers. An FOI document has revealed that there is no monitoring in place to determine the health of this species. Crayfish help keep our water ways clean so by keeping crayfish numbers high in the Murray River we help keep this river healthy.
Bait Yabbies
In SA and NSW the daily recreational take for yabbies is 200 per person per day with no size restriction. In Victoria it is 30 litres pppd with no size restriction. If bait sized yabbies were targeted the number taken can be over 5000 per person per day (size dependant). For the marine species of yabby (Bass Yabby) the daily limit is 100 per person per day. This is to stop overfishing. Marine species have a larger environment to habitate compared to the inland yabby. Why not have consistent regulations with our neighbouring states?
Berried Female Yabbies
Why is there no requirement to return berried female yabbies in Victoria?
In SA and NSW, fishers are required to return berried female yabbies with large fines in SA if you don't. In Vic. for other crustacean species it is an offence to have a berried female in your possession but not for yabbies. Why?
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