King’s High School students have been surveying fish in Tomahawk Lagoon to understand its piscine population.
They visit once a month to net and count fish.
King’s High School pupil Logan Gray said they caught the fish with a fyke net — a flexible cylindrical trap.
The net was tied to a waratah, a metal post driven into the water near the shore.
A milk container filled with bait was added to lure fish into the net.
They then left the net for 24 hours, retrieved it, then moved the catch to water-filled tubs.
"It is an interesting process," Logan said.
He enjoyed being outdoors and learning in a natural setting.
"It is quite different to what I've done before ... being in the lagoon and catching fish this way and then measuring them."
They then measured the fish and released them back into the lagoon.
The goal is to understand how the fish population changes throughout the year.
During last month’s visit they saw several eels and on this visit they caught perch and common bully.
Project facilitator Andrew Innes said the common bully was a dark fish with a broad head and narrow tail.
Perch were lighter with orange fins and black side markings.
The common bully was native but perch were an introduced species, he said.
"The perch is also a fish-eating fish, so probably the bullies actually aren’t very fond of having the perch around."
The year-long project lets students gather data, interpret it and give a final presentation on their findings.
