A NEW fishing competition that hopes to promote safe and sustainable recreational fishing in the Geographe Bay has officially cast its reel into the region.
Run by fishing conservation group OzFish, the online competition began on December 17 and provides participants the chance to share $2000 worth of prize money.
Over six weeks, those interested can upload a photo of themselves with their catch from Geographe Bay, either to the OzFish website or the OzFish Geographe Facebook page.
Each entry should include the code word "OZFISH" in their post and also a caption with a sentence about a habitat that the species in the photo relies on at some stage in its life cycle.
OzFish project manager Steve Pursell said a good understanding of local fish habitats made a huge difference when those fishing are chasing a feed from the bay.
"We hope to showcase and reward some of the amazing local habitat knowledge out there with the Birak in the Bay fishing comp," Pursell said.
The competition is run during the Noongar season of Birak (January to February) and is a significant time of year for fishing in the Geographe Bay region.
It is also a time where significant changes and variations in local marine habitats occur.
The senior category (18 and over) winning entry will receive $1000, whilst juniors receive $500, and runners up receive $250.
For more information and for Participants to register visit https://ozfish.org.au/.
Adult supervision is a must for all competitors.
During the school holidays OzFish will partner with Busselton Jetty to present Howie's Junior Jetty Classic.
