Native Fish Strategy

Category

What should leadership look like in the Murray-Darling Basin?

By Lucy Stuart November 13, 2023

As we move into the summer months in Australia, more of us will be enjoying our freshwater rivers. However, with the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in the news again, I find myself revisiting the content from the Native Fish Forum held in Dubbo 2023. Not only was I inspired by the “People making fish happen”, but

“People making fish happen” – what makes fish recovery actions successful?

By Lucy Stuart July 26, 2023

Here at Finterest, our work revolves around the recovery of our precious native fish, which are an invaluable cultural, ecological, social, and environmental resource. We do it because it’s important, and because we love it. And if you’re reading this, you probably love it too. At the Native Fish Forum in Dubbo this year, I

What have the recent floods meant for the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth?

By Kate McKenna April 5, 2023

Recent floods flowing down the Murray River have well and truly reached the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Mouth of the Murray. All 593 openings across 5 barrages, which for the last 80 years have controlled flows at the Mouth of the Murray, were fully open over the summer, with freshwater, saltwater, fish and other creatures

The Menindee Main Weir is open in December 2022.

Making the Connection: Providing Temporary Fish Passage at the Menindee Lakes

By Iain Ellis February 3, 2023

Fish Movement Weirs and regulators in rivers and lakes can impede or block the movement of native fish, impacting their ability to migrate and move to suitable feeding or breeding areas. While all fish need to move around to some degree, ‘flow-specialists’ like Golden perch and Silver perch need to move along rivers as part

Floods and fish – how can flooding help fish and aquatic ecosystems?

By Kate McKenna September 28, 2022

Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin, like many other catchments and basins globally, naturally fluctuates between periods of drought and periods of flooding, and has followed this pattern for more than 100 million years. Over time, its many native species have learnt and adapted to this pattern, so that the natural fluctuations between ‘boom and bust’ are now

10-years on: the legacy of restoring the Ovens River for cod

By Scott Raymond July 18, 2022

The Ovens River in north-eastern Victoria is home to two large-bodied native freshwater predators: Murray cod and Trout cod. These iconic fish are top order piscivores (carnivorous animals that primarily feed on fish), helping to regulate the structure and functioning of their aquatic environments. While threatened Murray cod are highly sought after by anglers, the

Protect first, restore second – doing what we can to look after threatened native fish

By Kate McKenna June 30, 2022

Australian rivers are highly modified. In 2003, scientists were already recording that 97% of the rivers in New South Wales were significantly modified, placing immense strain on local aquatic and ecological communities to survive without their natural flow regimes. Almost 20 years on, this is still largely the case for rivers across NSW and the

What happens to people when the Baaka does not flow?

By Iain Ellis May 4, 2022

In the summer of 2018-19, after two years of low flows in the lower Darling Baaka River in western New South Wales, a series of three mass fish kills occurred near Menindee, resulting in the deaths of millions of native fish. The size of the fish kills was unprecedented, with millions of native Bony herring

Koondrook fishways proving to be popular for our native fish

By Lucy Stuart April 19, 2022

The establishment of the Koondrook Weir, located in the mid-Murray River system, has limited the movement between Gunbower Creek and the Murray River for vulnerable and threatened fish species such as the Murray cod and the Golden perch. This lack of fish movement has also stunted potential developments in recreational fishing tourism for the area.

Why do we need long-term native fish recovery plans?

By Kate McKenna April 12, 2022

The Mid-Murray Floodplains along the New South Wales and Victorian border are home to some of the highest diversities of native fish species within the Murray-Darling Basin. Threatened and recreationally important species, like the Murray cod, golden perch, trout cod and silver perch, as well as wetland-specialist species, once thrived in the region’s interconnecting rivers,

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