Projects – Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee (MRCCC).

Reef Trust Grazing Land Program

The MRCCC Reef Trust Program works with grazing landholders to adopt grazing land management practices that achieve Reef Trust outcomes in terms of nutrient and sediment losses to the reef…

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Find a Frog in February

Community assistance is needed to find out where our frogs are living in and around the Mary River catchment (from Maleny to Hervey Bay and west to Conondale and Kilkivan) and coastal areas from Peregian to Burrum Heads and Fraser Island (K’Gari).

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Living with Threatened Species

The MRCCC’s Living with Threatened Species Program commenced in 2003 with an initial focus on threatened stream frogs in the Mary Catchment. The Program has since expanded to incorporate rehabilitation and protection of habitat for a range of threatened species…

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Waterwatch in the Mary River Catchment

The monthly data collected by Waterwatch volunteers provides the MRCCC with detailed information of baseline water quality throughout the catchment. During 2015-2016, 73 individuals, families and businesses collected data in 8 distinct network groups with 1389 samples taken – 59% more than the previous year…

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Endangered Mary River cod

Closed season for ALL FISHING in the Mary River and tributaries upstream of Gympie – 1st August to 31st October

Some years back, the number of Mary River cod in the wild was estimated to be as low as 600 individuals in their only natural habitat, the Mary River and its tributaries.

They have long been a “no take” species but nonetheless many are still caught, albeit subsequently released, although few anglers would admit to having deliberately targeted them.

The need for a complete ban on fishing during the cod’s breeding season from August to October is now recognised as essential to aid in the  survival of the species and has been in place for several years, although many anglers seem to be unaware of it.

The Mary River cod’s reproductive behaviour makes it particularly vulnerable during these three months, as it’s the male that guards the eggs very defensively, continuously fanning water over them to keep them oxygenated, and ferociously guarding them against a bevy of predators.

Anyone dangling a line in the vicinity of a male on egg-tending duties is more than likely to hook one. When a male is removed from his well-tended eggs, egg mortality is high, even in a short time. The unsuspecting angler, taking time to unhook his catch, and maybe pose for the apparently obligatory pic, may well have consigned several thousand young cod to oblivion.

This does not augur well for the survival of this iconic species and the fishing ban is designed to give them a chance to recover.

There is a closed season for ALL FISHING from August 1 to October 31, in both the Mary and tributaries upstream of Gympie. This includes Obi Obi Creek, Six Mile Creek, Kandanga, Amamoor and Yabba Creeks.

The DAF website informs that “a person must not possess or use a fishing line from 1st August to 31^st October in the Mary River and adjoining waterways upstream of its junction with Six Mile Creek (near Gympie).”

During this closed season, Fisheries officers will be enforcing the closure by conducting regular patrols of the Mary River. These patrols will include the use of drones to detect fishing activity over large stretches of the river and the installation of 4G Trail cameras at ‘high risk’ locations.

The only exceptions to this are Baroon Pocket Dam, Borumba Dam and Lake Macdonald, all of which are stocked impoundments where fishing can take place during the closed season.

In addition, in two major tributaries there is a year round ban on all fishing:

On Obi Obi Creek from the Baroon Pocket dam wall to Obi Obi Creek crossing 4 (Manuel Hornibrook Bridge).

And on Tinana Creek and tributaries upstream of Teddington Weir.

To report illegal fishing call 1800 017 116.

Mary River Month 

From 4th Sunday in September to the 2nd Saturday in November we celebrate Spring in the Mary with a wide range of activities, field days, forums, walks and talks throughout the Mary River Catchment, culminating with the Mary River Festival in Kandanga…

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