Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Do you guys have any snakes or lizzards? Ive always wanted a pet snake but they are soooo expensive.

Never got a reply from fisheries - they must have been blown away by my logic and persuasion

yep same here.... no reply.

Poor old fisheries are probably under a bit of stress at the moment, never had so many enquiries and so much work...

Yeah must be a stressful job, so stressful that the Translocation Officer has changed yet again!!!

So John has gone Gav?

Yeah he's moved to another section. Too many emails from disgruntled aquaponics enthusiasts wanting to try other species must of stressed him out . Claire Taylor is the new Translocation Officer.

Have you met her yet? I found John to be quite approachable... but yea, we probably stressed him out.

so they translocated the Translocation Officer ?

Hope they filled out the form... He probably applied for it last year some time.

Hope he's a local too

He probably moved to the aquarium section... lot less paperwork over there

I spoke to her earlier this week, she's not as approachable or knowledgeable as John. I think I met her when they came out here for a site inspection earlier in the year.
The problem with WA Fisheries is that they dont have the courage to make any decision that will upset anyone. On one side they have the recreational fishers and aquaponics enthusiasts wanting access to different species whilst on the other side of the fence there are the greens and environmentalists wanting them to allow nothing but WA natives. As others have said the situation as it stands dosent make any sense at all when you look at it.
They will allow us to have Silver Perch but not Jade Perch, where is the logic in that?
They are worried that a Jade Perch might inadvertently end up in one of our rivers where it would most likely die over the winter anyway yet on the other hand they themselves place 200 000 introduced trout each year into various rivers and dams !!! Which is going to have the greater effect on the environment a smallish Omnivore like a Jade Perch or a large carnivorous Trout?
You can walk into an aquarium shop and pretty much buy whatever species of fish originating from all sorts of countries yet if you want to breed an australian native fish to supply fingerlings for use in aquaponics systems they wont let you do it.
So, basically as I see it they have a system that is illogical and unworkable so rather than change anything they have decided that its just easiest to leave it as it is.

+1 Troutman

Perhaps you are approaching this from the wrong angle
Has any one talked to the Greens about aquaponics? They may not think it is a bad idea especially if they see a system up and running eg Faye's etc.
People have goldfish and koi ponds in their back gardens no one seems to give a you know what about that.