<< BACK TO CONTENTS “This would indicate that rising river levels and flows in the Goulburn are cues to fish to move in. That information will help us to continue to fine-tune the timing of environmental flows so we get the best outcomes for native fish,” he said. VEWH Environmental Water Coordinator Keith Chalmers said there were people working across the southern Murray–Darling Basin to make the project a success. “Fish in the Murray–Darling Basin don’t respect state borders: they use all of our waterways for their homes,” he said. “Building healthy fish populations in one river can ultimately help increase native fish numbers through the basin, and that’s our ultimate goal.” Boosting fish numbers, year after year Next year, the interstate team will set its sights again on helping native fish populations across the Murray–Darling Basin. “Large native fish such as Golden Perch and Silver Perch breed in large numbers only in years when conditions are good. New South Wales waterway managers capitalised on high natural flows in spring 2016 and used environmental water allocations to deliver well-timed environmental flows to support successful fish spawning and recruitment in the Lower Darling River and Darling Anabranch,” Keith explained.” “The flows provided a connection between the River Murray and Menindee Lakes – a key nursery habitat for golden and sliver perch – which enabled substantial numbers of juvenile golden perch to again move into the River Murray system. “In the coming year, it’s planned to again deliver flows through Victorian tributaries of the Murray to help encourage and assist these new juvenile fish, that originated in the Darling system, to migrate into the Goulburn and Campaspe rivers, building on this year’s results,” Keith said. Arthur Rylah Institute Principal Research Scientist Jarod Lyon said the work was revealing important information about how to help repopulate other rivers in the southern Murray–Darling basin. “This is a great example of learning by doing, working together to improve how we plan and manage environmental water,” he said. Jewels of the Murray— Darling Basin Golden and silver perch are much-loved fish in the southern Murray–Darling Basin. Golden perch — known as yellowbelly — are anglers’ favourites. Unfortunately, there are now far fewer of the fish in the wild: dams and weirs block their movement along rivers, and they don’t like cold water releases from water storages, preferring warm, slow moving, turbid streams. The much-smaller silver perch is classed as critically endangered under Victoria’s Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. They were once widespread and abundant throughout most of the Murray–Darling Basin but have now declined to low numbers and disappeared from much of their native range. In Victoria, silver perch have been recorded in 12 river basins and most recordings are from the Goulburn River, Loddon River, MurrayRiverina region and the Mallee. Reflections – Environmental watering in Victoria 2016–17 | 82
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