MDBC Strategic Plan 2005–2010, Strategy 1.6: Coordinate the implementation of the Native Fish Strategy

Restoring native fish populations

Background

Native fish populations are estimated to be at only 10% of pre-European settlement levels; they continue to be threatened by flow regulation, habitat degradation, reduced water quality, barriers to fish movement and alien fish species.

The aim of the Native Fish Strategy is to return native fish populations to 60% of estimated pre-European settlement levels by 2050.


Highlights

  • Construction at Lock 3 of the first new ‘dual type’ fishway, consisting of a vertical slot fishway to pass larger species, and a ‘lock’ to enable the movement of small-bodied fish, neared completion.
  • An independent five-year review of the Native Fish Strategy found that the strategy has been successful.
  • Emergency rescues of several endangered fish species in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria were undertaken in response to extreme drought and bushfire conditions.
  • A highly successful Native Fish Awareness Week, held in northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland, showcased local community achievements.

 

Native Fish Awareness Week: students from Moree Primary School learning about fish habitat and behaviour by making catfish nests.

Native Fish Awareness Week: students from Moree Primary School learning about fish habitat and behaviour by making catfish nests.

 

Figure 2.4 Progress on providing fish passage as part of the Sea to Hume program at the end of 2008–09.

Figure 2.4 Progress on providing fish passage as part of the Sea to Hume program at the end of 2008–09. The green line shows the length of the River Murray open to fish passage. ‘F’ marks the locations of the fishways.

 

The ‘Sea to Hume’ program is restoring fish passage along the River Murray from the sea upstream to Hume Dam — a distance of 2,225 km. The program, which started in 2001, will be completed by June 2011. Figure 2.4 shows the progress made on the program. (For additional information, see page 76.)

The new fishway at Lock 3, which is the first of a new design incorporating a 1:18 gradient vertical-slot-type plus a fish ‘lock’, was close to completion by the end of June 2009. As a result of this fishway, approximately 2,100 km of the river will have been opened to fish passage by August 2009. Construction of a similar ‘dual type’ design started at Lock 6 in June 2009. At the barrages, construction of a vertical slot fishway for small-bodied fish at Tauwitchere Barrage (near Pelican Point) began in 2009.

An independent five-year review of the Native Fish Strategy was completed in 2009. The review found that the strategy has been successful in raising awareness and garnering support for the management of native fish across the Basin. In particular, the review recommended that the objectives and targets of the Native Fish Strategy should be aligned with the Basin Plan.

 

Barred galaxia. Inset: Following the bushfires in early 2009, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment staff rescue barred galaxias from burnt creek habitats in the upper Goulburn catchment.

Barred galaxia. Inset: Following the bushfires in early 2009, Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment staff rescue barred galaxias from burnt creek habitats in the upper Goulburn catchment.

 

Extended drought across the southern Basin and extreme bushfires in Victoria saw an unprecedented demand on emergency interventions this year. During one week in early March, the Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) received applications for emergency funding from New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria. For example:

  • Hundreds of endangered native fish in Victorian streams were rescued from areas affected by the 2009 bushfires, where ash and sediment posed a risk to water quality. In a rescue jointly funded by the Victorian Government and MDBA, 394 barred galaxias and 35 Macquarie perch were taken into ‘temporary captive maintenance’ after much of their primary habitat was burnt. The rescued fish were moved to safe refuges at Heidelberg and Snobs Creek until stream conditions recover.
  • By early 2009, the Wakool River system in New South Wales had dried to a series of disconnected pools. Deoxygenation, probably the result of high ambient temperatures, triggered a significant fish kill in Colligen Creek and a smaller kill in the Merran. Assisted by MDBA funding, NSW Department of Primary Industries staff and local landholders captured 105 Murray cod, 20 golden perch and 9 silver perch from the remnant pools in Merran Creek and transported them to larger refuge waterholes in the nearby Wakool River.

As part of Native Fish Awareness Week, a week-long tour was held throughout south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales to engage on native fish issues with a wide variety of groups. These included four school visits, one Indigenous community meeting, two recreational angler events, one local government meeting, four landholder visits and two evening community forums.

Recognising local community achievements that progress native fish management goals was a key focus of the week, and many local groups from Toowoomba to Tamworth had the opportunity to showcase their efforts to representatives from around the Basin.