Recreational Fishery
Banded Morwong are an increasingly important component of the recreational fishery in Tasmania. The most recent survey in 2022/23 estimated the recreational landings of Banded Morwong at 5.2 tonnes (2,660 fish) making up 11% of the total catch (commercial and recreational) during that season (Tracey and Stark 2024). In the previous recreational survey for the 2017/18 season estimated the recreational landings of Banded Morwong was 2 tonnes (1,522 fish) and making up slightly more than 5% of the total catch (commercial and recreational) during that season (Lyle et al. 2019). Therefore, the recreational catch has more than doubled in its contribution to total catch over the last 5 years. Recreational surveys prior to these showed a total of 298 individuals were estimated as retained in the 2012/13 recreational fishing survey of Lyle et al. (2014), equating to a total harvest of 0.5 tonnes, or around 1% of the total Banded Morwong landings for that year. An estimated 1,082 Banded Morwong were retained in 2010 (Lyle and Tracey 2012), representing almost 4% of total Banded Morwong landings in that year. No species-specific catch estimates for Banded Morwong were available in the two previous recreational fishing survey reports (Lyle 2005, Lyle et al. 2009).
