Island Fisheries details thousands of dollars in fines

The Inland Fisheries Service said $14,933 worth of court fines were issued during 2020-21.

Infringement notice fines totalled a further $14,276, and conditional caution incidents raised $19,264.

Inland Fisheries' annual report said two defendants were convicted of 35 offences in the Magistrates Court during the year.

Another defendant was listed to appear in the court on four charges.

Infringements and conditional cautions were issued for 136 offences.

Whitebait were involved in many of the incidents.

Inland Fisheries said 49 kilograms of whitebait were seized during the year and three whitebait nets were seized.

Four homes were searched and there were 18 current notices of disqualification, which stopped offenders holding whitebait licences.

Meanwhile, 3383 angling licences and 130 whitebait licences were inspected and there were 583 boating safety inspections.

Inland Fisheries said North-West rivers had endured some extreme conditions in recent years, including drought in 2015-16 and floods in 2016.

"In the period since 2015, anglers experienced very low catch rates of brown trout in most rivers, particularly those furthest west," it said.

It said it surveyed the Blythe, Emu, Inglis and Gawler rivers in March to examine trout populations

"Except for Gawler River, the lower reaches of all rivers contained fewer trout," it said.

It said mid-reaches had the most fish.

"The number of trout captured from the Blythe, Inglis and Gawler rivers was good and similar across all three waters, but the Emu River had a much lower abundance of trout," it said.

"There were a range of lengths across all rivers, indicating a robust regional population structure."

Primary Industries Minister Guy Barnett said Tasmanians holidaying at home because of the coronavirus pandemic led to the highest local angling participation in more than five years.