Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

No, I'm saying you aren't allowed to legally bring fish into W.A. without written approval.

You only need a permit for Silver Perch, this is free, and generally very simple within the metro area.

And there are no breeders in W.A. of other species, so it makes it almost impossible to stock them in your system.

From what I understand any fish that is not native to WA requires the purchaser to obtain a translocation permit from fisheries. The thing is it is not inforced in any way and fisheries themselves will sell trout from their hatchery to anyone who walks in off the street with or without a permit.
As far as the Eastern States natives go, if the fish is bred in WA then there is no problem in obtaining them. Fisheries are reluctant in allowing new stock to be brought in from the other states as they are trying to prevent any disease being brought in as our stocks here are disease free.
There are plenty of Murray Cod out there if you know where to look. In several dams not far from Perth there are actually self sustaining populations in existence.

Sent the request for translocation paperwork through by email , we'll see what happens

here's the reply from the email I sent yesterday ( nice and quick ! )

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for your query. The Department of Fisheries always recommends
that you source fish within Western Australia to avoid the
translocation
of fish diseases from the eastern states which are not present in this
State. This is not always possible, for example jade perch, so we also
recommend you choose to culture a species which is available in WA.
Examples of fish, available in WA but also suitable for aquaponics,
would be silver perch, trout, silver cobbler or barramundi.

This is the best option as applying to translocate from interstate is
less likely to be approved. Our Senior Fish Pathologist does not tend
to
support these types of interstate applications, particularly with fish
which can carry nasty diseases and particularly when lots of individual
repeated translocations are planned as this increases the probability
of
a disease outbreak and the chance of escaped fish and detrimental
environmental impact.

Another thing is I don't know if you are aware of research carried out
in 2001 by the Aquaculture Development Unit, Challenger TAFE, but they
made some discoveries you would be very interested in. They found that
although jade perch growth rates were good, feedback received from WA
restuaranters on market sized product revealed that the fish contained
high levels of fat, both within the body cavity and between the flakes
of flesh. Experiments conducted by the Queensland Dept of Primary
Industries interestingly found that this high level of body fat is
relatively constant regardless of the fat content of the diet fed to
the
fish (Austasia Aquaculture June/July 2002).

A strong muddy, or off-flavour, was also reported in some fish supplied
to WA restuaranters, even after purging for 7 days. Additional
feedback
of interest was the initial lack of a marketing identity of this
species
in WA. Restuaranters were unfamiliar with the species and were
therefore
unwilling to pay a premium price. Similar experience has been reported
on the east coast, with some RAS operators forced to sell product below
that of the cost of production.

Due to this our Aquaculture program does not support the commercial
aquaculture of jade perch. Your project is non-commercial of course so
you would only need translocation approval. I would strongly suggest if
you wish to progress with your proposed application of jade perch from
Queensland then you should certainly combine your application with
other
people as this is another way of reducing disease risk. This would
certainly help your case. Unfortunately our Senior Fish Pathologist is
away this week so I can't ask him his opinion.

Please let me know your address so I can send out the appropriate
forms.
There is no harm in applying and there is also no cost. I would suggest
you consider alternative translocation options though, sourced within
Western Australia just in case this application is not approved.

Hope this helps.

Please contact me if you require any further information.

Cheers

Gordon


Gordon Motherwell
Translocation Officer
Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program
(08) 9482 7251

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At least you have recieved a promp reply Boris01.

I'm interested in the silver cobbler that was mentioned, do you know about them?

There is a lot of fat in jades, but if you grill or bbq them they are delicious, with no muddy flavours at all. I have plans for that fat...

I dont know about the silver cobbler Gnash , but i assume that since Gordon suggested them then theyd be easy to get approval for

the main reasons I want the jade perch are :
taller body = bigger fillet than a barra the same length
4x as much omega 3 as a silver perch
slightly lower temp required than barra

Ive sent Gordon my postal address , despite the high possibility of it not getting approved I may aswell try

sometimes I forget where Im living though - WA , state motto :
"dont do something that nobody else is doing"

I think the Silver Cobbler are the ones found up in the Kimberley. I know they catch them out of Lake Argyle and sell them down in the Perth Fish shops. They grow pretty big but I imagine would require heated water over the winter period.

Silver Cobbler {Arius midgleyi} are a catfish native to Wa, particularly the Kimberleys - Lake Argyle....

Hence their old name Lake Argyle catfish; Lake Argyle silver cobbler and around the top end where they're known as Ord River catfish.... sometimes called the "Shovelnose" catfish {Ariopsis paucus}... but they're actually different species...

Will grow to 25kg + ....

Definitely grow big....

http://www.lakeargyle.com/english/gallery-09.htm

aaahhhh , THOSE silver cobbler ...

dad used to call them catfish ( or b@st4rds ) when we were fishing for barra when we lived up north

they taste like poo and the fillets are small for the fish size , from what I remember

i have to say that was a prompt and detailed reply.



a good purge would probably fix that.

i gather these are fresh water?

where does one source fingerling?

AAHHH caught those before when I lived in Derby, the locals called them Gook Gooks because of the noise they made out of water (just before smacking them on the head with a nulla nulla and removing the spikes with pliers). Thanks guys

failing jade perch , has anyone got any tips on black bream ?

Im determined to grow something other than barra or silvers ...

TimC would be the man to talk to about Black Bream.... take a couple of years to grow out though....