KIM Martin hopes the hundreds of anglers expected at the 2008 Barra Bounty will have something to catch when they throw in a line in two weeks.

The Rocky Barra Bounty organiser has concerns about fish numbers in the Fitzroy River in the wake of reports that the floods earlier this year and high salt levels have affected the estuary’s ecosystem.

Emerald’s Ensham Mine, which was flooded in January, pumped out its pit into the Isaac, Mackenzie and Fitzroy rivers, increasing levels of sodium chloride salt.

While not harmful to humans, some fishers claimed the discharge may have contributed to a downturn in fish numbers.

Yesterday the Rockhampton Regional Council said tests showed sodium chloride levels at 118mg a litre.

“We simply won’t know how many fish are in the river until the event begins,” Mr Martin said.

“In all honesty there are many factors when it comes to fish numbers weather plays a big role along with water temperature.

“There are a lot of little fish in the river though, but they are only 12 months old and about 30cm long, so they won’t excite competitors much.

“We have concerns that there may not be a large population of fish, but we just won’t know until the event.”

Over the past nine Barra Bounties 1150 barra had been tagged and released.

He said if the warmer weather continued over the next fortnight, it could boost fish numbers by the time Barra Bounty arrived.

“Barra are a tropical fish, so they don’t move when temperatures are low,” he said.

“If we can get a nice patch of weather, say 24 degrees (Celsius), it would be a godsend.”

This year’s Rocky Barra Bounty Tag and Release Barramundi Fishing Event is scheduled to cast off on the Fitzroy River from October 23 to 25.

The competition is judged on the most metres of barramundi tagged and released.

Meanwhile, The Morning Bulletin yesterday took water samples from the Fitzroy River upstream of the barrage for testing.

This reporter collected the samples in containers given to him by scientists at CQUniversity, who will conduct the tests.

They will test for sodium chloride levels and return the results to The Morning Bulletin probably early next week.

Source : The Morning Bulletin