Asian green mussel found in Cairns

* from P62 gusts – but a couple of honey holes produced fish in the 80cm and early 90cm range for the leaderboard.

With the trades easing slightly on day two, Tom Hockey and I headed a long way upstream to try to get out of the wind.

We raised plenty of small barra, a few mangrove jack, cod and queenfish but nothing remotely close to making the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, a couple of boats working out of Mapoon finally found a few big mackerel, the best weighing in at over 18kg.

All that was needed to have a chance in the major prize draw was a numbered ticket, and the 2200 allocated had all been sold.

On the final evening, 23 lucky individuals lined up on stage as the numbers were drawn down towards the major prize – a 5.2m Aluvan Razor plate hull boat powered by a 115hp Suzuki fourstroke outboard.

Also on offer were the Honda SXS700 Pioneer side by side, a Quintrex 370 Outback Explorer with 20hp Yamaha, $7500 cash or a big $5000 diamond, if you happened to be one of the runners up!

The excitement for the final draw is always palpable, with Jamie Hutton eventually being the last person standing to win the Aluvan.

As with most of the other winners, you couldn’t get the smile off his face!

Believe it or not, the Classic committee has already started to plan the 2022 event and have decided to move it back to its regular time slot on the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June.

With COVID restrictions in southern states hopefully easing well before that time, next year’s Classic is sure to be a highly anticipated event.

Given that this year’s tickets sold out a couple of days prior, even with the COVID limitations, I’d suggest that anyone contemplating making the trip to Weipa should start planning immediately.

The Weipa Fishing Classic major prize winner Jamie Hutton took a seat in his new $45,000 Aluvan Razor with his son Jake.

The casting and cast net throwing competitions were fiercely contested. Simon Milevsky showed how it’s done!

ASINGLE well established Asian green mussel has recently been found on a vessel in Cairns.

Asian green mussel is an invasive and prohibited marine pest which has been detected in Queensland several times in recent years.

Asian green mussel out-competes native species, fouls hard surfaces including vessel hulls, seawater systems, industrial intake pipes, wharves, artificial substrates and buoys and can be poisonous to humans.

It can be introduced via a ship’s ballast water, as biofouling on boat hulls and through internal seawater systems.

The single AGM measured 17.5cm – equal to the largest recorded AGM – indicating it had been on the vessel for an extended period of time.

Internal examination indicated it was a mature male capable of reproduction.

The vessel had been moored in Trinity Inlet since February 2013.

It is understood it had not left the inlet since.

The vessel was moved recently to be cleaned, leading to the discovery of the invasive mussel.

This is being treated as an environmental detection – the result of a spawning event in the area leading to the settlement of this individual.

Recent Q-SEA marine pest surveillance activities were undertaken in the area and are awaiting laboratory analysis.

Q-SEA are also working with Ports North and Marine Safety Queensland to identify high risk vessels and mooring piles to conduct further investigations.

If you see something you think might be Asian green mussel, report it immediately to Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23 or via the online reporting portal.

A single well established Asian green mussel found on a vessel in Cairns measured 17.5cm. Photo: Yirrganydji Rangers

Asian green mussel can be introduced via a ship’s ballast water, as biofouling on boat hulls and through internal seawater systems.