Improving fish passage in the Central West

Site inspections of unlicensed structures and road crossings affecting the movement of fish through river systems in the Central West Catchment are at present being undertaken by NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

NSW DPI project officer, Kirby Byrne, said the fish passage inspections involved the Castlereagh, Talbragar and Little River sub-catchments.

"This Catchment Management Authority (CMA) funded project is a first for the Central West and aims to give a baseline view of the number of road crossings that currently affect fish passage through rivers and streams in the region.

"The inspections, which will be ongoing for the next 12 months, involve electronic mapping of the structures using GPS and onsite evaluations of their impacts to fish passage," she said.

NSW DPI officers will be mapping the structures and evaluating the impacts that the crossings could potentially have on fish movements.

In the past three months, the entire Castlereagh sub-catchment has been examined with a total of 148 sites mapped and audited.

"Road crossings blocked by a build up of branches and other debris, or with shallow flows and elevated drainage pipes, can obstruct fish from moving along rivers or creeks and into wetlands.

"Poorly designed culverts and causeways commonly act as barriers, while bridges and well-designed fords usually have less of an impact on fish passage.

"According to the Murray Darling Basin Commission’s Native Fish Strategy man-made barriers have contributed to the 90 per cent decline of native fish populations in the Murray Darling Basin since 1770, through reduced fish passage in rivers and creeks.

"By conducting this project, DPI and the Central West CMA are helping to identify ways of providing adequate passage for native fish, which is an objective of the Native Fish Strategy.

"Fish passage is important for the survival of healthy native fish populations as many native species such as golden perch and Murray cod migrate upstream to spawn.

"Native fish also rely on good stream connectivity to find food, new habitat and avoid predators," Ms Byrne said.

She said funding had been allocated to remediate several high priority structures in the surveyed catchments.

"These priority structures will be removed, repaired or replaced with fish friendly road crossings, which will enable more aquatic habitat to be available for fish and also demonstrate what actions, can be taken to remediate fish barriers without impinging on vehicular access," Ms Byrne said.

For more information visit www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries or contact Kirby Byrne on (02) 6881 1210 or 0439 417 609. 

Photos available from sarahc@sf.nsw.gov.au

Further reading

Fishways

Barriers to fish passage

Fish friendly road crossings