skip to content
Government of Western Australia - Department of Fisheries

Send us your skeletons

You can play a key part in WA fisheries science by donating your fish skeletons to help with our long-term monitoring program of fish stocks and ensure the recovery of our key fish species, like WA dhufish.

The skeleton contains key biological information, such as length, age and sex, that we can use to make science-based decisions to sustainably manage our fisheries.​​

More information on how finfish stocks are assessed is available on this website.   

Donate your frames and you could be in the running to win some great prizes! 

How to donate:

  • Please donate the whole filleted skeleton (frame with the head and guts intact) if you can.
  • For large fish like WA dhufish you can donate just the head.
  • Frames can be fresh or frozen.

Label frames with:

  • your name, phone number and email address (so we can send you research feedback and put your name in prize draws);
  • the date of your capture; and
  • the location of your capture (for boat catches, the latitude/longitude or distance and bearing from port and the name of the port, for example 3 n miles west of Hillarys; for shore catches, the general location).

Information you provide about the location of your catch is confidential.

You can drop off your fish frames at our offices and participating stores.​ For any queries or to enquire about DPIRD staff picking up frames from your house, email fishframes@dpird.wa.gov.au​.

We need frames for the following species from the areas in the map below. 



 

West Coast bioregion

 

South Coast bioregion

illustration of a ​West Australian dhufish 
 

P



P
 ​illustration of a baldchin ​​​​groper​

P



P​

 ​​Pink snapper

illustration of a Pink snapper​ 

P



P

*east of Albany only​
Yellowtail kingfish



P
King George whiting





P
Southern garfish
southern garfish swainston.png


P​

P​
Australian herring


​​P P​


​​ ​​​​​Illustrations © R. Swainston/www.anima.net.au​

Last modified: 3/10/2024 10:10 AM

wa.gov.au

© All contents copyright Government of Western Australia. All rights reserved. ABN: 18 951 343 745

Copyright

© This work is copyright. You may display, print or reproduce this material only in an unaltered format for your personal or non-commercial use, or for use within your organisation. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.

Disclaimer

The information and advice provided by the Department of Fisheries website is made in good faith and is from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of release onto the website. Changes in circumstances after a document is placed on the website may affect the accuracy of the information. Full disclaimer details are available at www.fish.wa.gov.au.