Kate McKenna

The wildlife recovery dilemma: Which species do we choose for recovery projects?

By Kate McKenna April 4, 2022

Australia is facing a biodiversity crisis. Since 1788, according to the federal Environment and Biodiversity Protection Act, 39 of all mammal species (10%), 23 bird species, four frog species, one known fish species and 37 plant species are now extinct in Australia. Native fish, in particular, are silently bearing the brunt of increasing degradation of

Improving our ability to manage fish kills – John Koehn’s lessons from the Murray Darling Basin

By Kate McKenna March 21, 2022

The dramatic events of the summer of 2018-19, where a series of three mass fish kills resulted in the deaths of millions of native fish in the lower Darling-Baaka River, captured national and global attention. Feelings of sadness and horror at the scale of the fish kills had the media and general public, who for

‘Canary in the Condamine’ – How does the cold water specialist, River blackfish, survive in Queensland?

By Kate McKenna March 9, 2022

How does a cold water specialist fish survive in Queensland? And why is it known as a ‘Canary in the coalmine’? There is a special fish - the River blackfish - that calls the Condamine headwaters in southern Queensland its home. This region is unique in Queensland as it has stretches of cold water that

Maccas in the Georges River found using eDNA

By Kate McKenna February 1, 2022

Georges River Fish Habitat Restoration Project OzFish Hawkesbury-Nepean Chapter with Campbelltown Council have been undertaking Environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling in south-west Sydney on the Georges River to determine the presence of endangered species in the waterway. Local volunteers assist researchers and staff from council by collecting water samples in a coordinated approach at various locations

Murray cod populations on the rise in Queensland

By Kate McKenna June 30, 2021

The endangered native Murray cod is Australia’s largest freshwater fish, reaching lengths of up to…

Are hatchery-bred Murray cod too bold for the wild?

By Kate McKenna June 22, 2021

Fish ‘personality’, or behaviour, can influence the likelihood of survival in the wild when faced…

New handbook supporting the conservation of nine NSW threatened freshwater fish species

By Kate McKenna June 7, 2021

The ‘Conservation translocation handbook for New South Wales threatened freshwater fishes’ (April 2021, PDF) has…

Controlling Carp numbers: biomass modelling to support native fish recovery

By Kate McKenna May 18, 2021

Scientists have been able to estimate the biomass and energy that the invasive Common Carp Cyprinus carpio (carp) species have absorbed and locked away from Australia’s ecosystems and food webs, reflecting the amount of energy and resources unavailable for native species. These findings are useful for tracking river and ecosystem recovery, setting appropriate management and

From New Caledonia to the Barwon River: tracking migratory eels using satellites

By Kate McKenna May 4, 2021

Eels are an important part of Victoria’s biodiversity and Indigenous cultural heritage, yet globally and…

New Thomson River Fishway – enabling gold-mining history and native fish to come together

By Kate McKenna April 28, 2021

A ‘fishway’ project by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (WGCMA) was completed in 2019,…

Fish eyes tell an amazing story

By Kate McKenna April 13, 2021

A recent US study has found exciting new discoveries for freshwater fish monitoring and conservation,…

Bringing fish back to the Barwon-Darling River

By Kate McKenna March 25, 2021

The Summer of 2018-19 saw horrendous sights in the Darling River, around 1 million fish dead from the river’s degradation. This sparked a study in 2020 by researchers Dr Martin Mallen-Cooper and Dr Brenton Zampatti from CSIRO and Charles Sturt University (Restoring the ecological integrity of a dryland river: Why low flows in the Barwon–Darling