Vic Fish Kids – Williamstown
Fishcare Geelong/Bellarine combined forces with Fishcare Melbourne Mornington Peninsula and Westernport (MMPW) to deliver the first VicFishKids of 2019.
Each VicFishKids are a fun and free event for families to learn how to cast, tie knots and of course to try and catch some fish! The VicFishKids at Williamstown celebrated Cultural diversity in fishing with a large array of activities for families to undertake. Fishcare teamed up with the education staff from the Victorian Fisheries Authority to run Sustainable fishing education prior to their fishing session on the Pier. The Geelong/Bellarine Facilitator Mitch assisted with the education, the pier fishing and the casting lanes alongside a Fishcare Volunteer Michael.
During Summer by the Sea, Fishcare’s Port Phillip Facilitator Jacinta has worked along-side Coastcare Facilitator Phil at the Dandenong markets doing Fish Dissections; this time they were able to bring it to the VicFishKids event. At the Coastcare trailer, Phil informed everyone on what the amazing different artifacts he had that can be found in Port Phillip Bay
including shark eggs, seal skull, and a dinosaur tooth. Every hour, Jacinta ran a new dissection with various different types of fish provided by Gem Pier Seaford. The kids were fascinated (and so were many of the parents!) by the anatomy of a fish and being able to get any questions they wanted answered.
The most common questions from the day were –
“What’s that inflated white thing?”. This was usually in regards to the Swim Bladder; this gives the fish the ability to control their buoyancy.
“How do you know how old it is?”. By looking at the ear bone – known as the Otolith – and counting the rings you can age a fish! Much like counting rings on a tree.
“Where’re its lungs?” Fish don’t have lungs, they have gills!
“Can you poke its eye?” Ah, no.
It was a hugely successful day with many participants commenting on how much they enjoyed everything that was on offer. Thanks again for Victorian Fisheries Authority for organising such a fun day, and Coastcare Victoria for providing their trailer and dissection equipment! We look forward to many more partnership events in the future.
