Cod operation only one in the world

news Cod operation only one in the world

The hatchery setup at Hinternoosa Hatchery, Cooroy Freshly hatched Mary River Cod fry, Broodstock in breeding pond

A WORLDWIDE effort to save two of Australia’s most endangered and threatened fish species is being conducted in Cooroy.

Hinternoosa Hatchery is a family-owned fish hatchery operation that has been entrusted with the captive breeding programs of the endangered Mary River Cod and the threatened Australian Lungfish.

Hinternoosa Hatchery owners, Darren and Maree Knowles, are the only hatchery in the world to be granted a license to breed both Mary River Cod sourced from the Mary River system and the Australian Lungfish.

Darren said they breed cod fingerlings using broodstock from tributaries in the Mary to supply the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee (MRCCC) with fish for their rehabilitation work.

“Fish for breeding are sourced from all of the different tributaries of the Mary River such as Six Mile, Obi Obi, Coondoo and Tinana.

“They are then paired up according to size and sex and placed in breeding ponds to spawn.

“The eggs are then collected and hatched out in the hatchery and the fingerlings are later released at 16 sites in the tributaries.

“Last year, we released 12,000 Mary River Cod fingerlings as part of our MRCCC work.”

Darren said 25 years ago there were only 600 Mary River Cod left in the world. Today, thanks to their efforts and education, that number is much higher.

“With measures of no fishing and public education on not fishing during the breeding season, Mary River Cod numbers are building back up.”

From August 1 to October 1 in the Mary River system, there is a zero fishing ban to protect the Mary River Cod.

“The fishing ban is a total fishing ban from the Six Mile junction on the Main Mary River and above, excluding the impoundments.

“Fishing during the breeding season can disturb the nests. Once a male Mary River Cod goes off the nest he either won’t go back or other fish will sneak in and eat the eggs.”

Fishing is still allowed in impoundments, which Hinternoosa Hatchery also supplies with cod stock.

“We supply fish stocking groups with fingerlings for impoundments state-wide.

“Last year we supplied 50,000 cod fingerlings to impoundments from the Gold Coast to Toowoomba and up to Maryborough.”

Darren said stocking groups use the money from licences to buy the fingerlings.

“Fishing in an impoundment, such as Lake Macdonald, requires a licence and this licence money goes back to stocking groups to buy fingerlings.”

Until it closed, the Jerry Cook Hatchery on Lake Macdonald bred Mary River Cod to stock the impoundment and local tributaries.

“Jerry was a keen old fisherman who started the hatchery in 1983 and through years of trials and tribulations, worked out how to breed the cod.

“Originally the hatchery only stocked Lake Macdonald and when the dam overspilled, the cod would spread into the tributaries.

“Today, everything is done at our farm outside Cooroy and we just speed this process up by dropping the cod in the tributaries manually.”

Hinternoosa Hatchery also breeds the oldest fish in the world – the Australian Lungfish.

“The Australian Lungfish is only really found in the Burnett and Mary river systems and they are a threatened species but more so because of their geographical spread.

“The lungfish has remained unchanged for 100 million years and is the only link left to land creatures coming out of the water.

“Growing up to 1.4 m long, they are gentle giants.”

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