The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is partnering with the Molecular Ecology Lab at Flinders University in South Australia in a national Australian Research Council project to investigate the relationships between snapper from Shark Bay to New Zealand.
The Department said in a statement that the researchers were using powerful genomic tools to unlock the information hidden deep in snapper DNA.
“This project will help us learn whether Esperance snapper are actually from Esperance and identify appropriate boundaries for the future management and stock assessment of snapper in Western Australia and across Australia,” the Department said.
“To do this, the Department’s Send Us Your Skeletons team needs 50 adult snapper from fishers in the Esperance area by the end of July,” it said.
“We ask you to keep your fish as fresh as possible — on ice at sea and freeze the frame straight after filleting.”
The Department said fishers were asked to put the frame in a bag with their name, phone number, date of capture and location of capture (ramp name and distance and bearing from ramp).
It should be dropped off at Moby Marine, Lot 84/46 Norseman Road Esperance, or South East Fisheries, 8 Rogers Street Esperance.
The prize for doing this would be entry into a draw for a trip to the Montebello Islands, thanks to Montebello Island Safaris, the Department said.
