Murray River Fishway Project

Sea to Hume Dam fish passage program

The Sea to Hume Dam fish passage program was a multi-million dollar initiative under the Murray Darling Basin Commission’s (now Murray Darling Basin Authority) Native Fish Strategy funded through the Living Murray Program. In terms of river length (2,225 km) this was one of the largest fish passage river restoration projects in the world.

The program began in 2001 and included the design, construction, and evaluation of 12 weirs and five barrages along the main stem Murray River. The program was completed in 2010 for an estimated $45 million, funded between Federal and State Governments.

The planning associated with the program took on a “whole of ecosystem’ approach aiming to provide fish passage for the majority of the fish community. During the project, monitoring of the fishways was conducted to assess whether the fishways were effective by answering four questions:

1. Are the fishways allowing passage of a full-size range of size classes and species of fish?
2. Are the fishways reducing accumulations of fish downstream of the barrier?
3. Are the fishways contributing to positive changes in the abundance and diversity of native fish in the river
4. Are the location, design and operation of the fishway optimised?

The results demonstrated that the 10 new fishways were able to set new worldwide standards for ecosystem restoration by being able to pass the majority of the migratory fish community including small and large bodied species. The research also resulted in advances in the knowledge of native fish species in the Murray-Darling Basin. Species such as Carp Gudgeon, Murray Rainbowfish and Unspeckled Hardyhead, that were previously thought not to be migratory, trapped within the fishway in their thousands. This new knowledge paved the way for innovative experiments to advance fishway design and provide improved passage for the smallest of fish and crustaceans among the migratory community.

See Quick link for more information on the program and monitoring results.