{"id":8814,"date":"2024-09-02T06:58:57","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T06:58:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/mountain-top-nursery-frog-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-04-04T06:05:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T06:05:25","slug":"fishways-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/fishways-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New fish highways open up habitat"},"content":{"rendered":"[mk_page_section bg_image=”https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/tully-river.jpg” bg_position=”center center” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” bg_stretch=”true” enable_3d=”true” min_height=”500″ js_vertical_centered=”true” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” section_id=”donate” el_class=”donate-1″ sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”70px”][mk_fancy_title font_family=”none” align=”center”]IMPROVING FISH BIODIVERSITY[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider size=”67″][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section section_id=”great-1″ sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1563789112768{padding-right: 36px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}” el_class=”great_header_left”][mk_padding_divider size=”100″ visibility=”hidden-nb”][mk_padding_divider size=”15″ visibility=”visible-sm”][mk_padding_divider visibility=”visible-tl”][mk_fancy_title size=”28″ letter_spacing=”4″ margin_bottom=”0″ font_family=”none” el_class=”terrain-title-2″]FISHWAYS OPEN UP 100KM+ OF WATERWAYS[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider size=”60″ visibility=”hidden-nb”][mk_padding_divider size=”20″ visibility=”visible-nb”][vc_column_text el_class=”sub-head” css=”.vc_custom_1725261437855{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]SEPTEMBER 2024[\/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”5″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1725324435293{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]New fishways are helping fish species, including barramundi and mangrove jack, to breed up in North Queensland waterways.<\/p>\n

Six fishways built between Tully and Crystal Creek near Paluma over the last year have removed barriers for juvenile fish. Together, they\u2019ve opened up more than 100 kilometres of creek and river systems \u2013 and recent surveys at these sites have shown they are fish highways.<\/p>\n

Fish highways – 16 native species including barra, tarpon
\n<\/strong>
\nMore than 1000 fish were recorded moving through one of the fishways \u2013 at Insulator Creek north of Townsville – in one day. And in more recent surveys, over 4500 fish were caught and released during monitoring work at four rock ramp fishways.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen native species, including juvenile barramundi, empire gudgeon, rainbow fish, tarpon and long-finned eels, were recorded,\u2019\u2019 Terrain NRM\u2019s Deb Bass said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf the 80+ species of native fish we have in the Wet Tropics region, up to half need to move between salt and freshwater habitats to complete their lifecycles. Barriers like weirs, pipes, culvert crossings and weed chokes can stop these species from thriving.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent surveys at our fishways, eight of the 16 native species recorded are species that need that movement – from their beginnings in saltwater to safer freshwater nursery grounds as juveniles and then back downstream to the saltwater to breed as adults. So we can see the fishways are providing access for these species, from barramundi and mangrove jack to shrimps.\u201d<\/p>\n

A series of underwater stairs for fish<\/strong><\/p>\n

Terrain NRM has been working with OzFish Unlimited, Catchment Solutions and Australasian Fish Passage Services on the \u2018Fish Homes and Highways\u2019 project, which is funded by the Australian Government\u2019s Reef Trust. Fishways are a relatively new solution in the region \u2013 a series of underwater stairs for fish, with deep pools between each one for resting.<\/p>\n

Catchment Solutions fishery ecologist Matt Moore said rocks were placed strategically, sometimes in S-bend and sometimes a straight line, to achieve the right gradient to create a slower flow while also being able to withstand floods.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo pull in our monitoring traps and see all the fish \u2013 a lot goes into the design of these structures, so we love seeing a result like this,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

New ‘nursery slot’ for super small juveniles\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u2018nursery slot\u2019 is a new feature, trialled in one of the fishways, to help super small juveniles move upstream.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs 20mm or less of water going through it to create the right conditions for weaker-swimming juvenile fish,\u201d Matt said. \u201cWe recently recorded the smallest snakehead gudgeon ever documented in Australian fishway studies travelling through the slot. It was 16mm long.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1563789122720{padding-right: 0px !important;padding-left: 34px !important;}” el_class=”great_header_right”][mk_padding_divider size=”206″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”50″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”50″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_padding_divider size=”5″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1725260856560{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\"\"[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1725324503931{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Oz Fish Unlimited\u2019s Geoff Collins, an aquatic ecologist and Adjunct Research Fellow at James Cook University\u2019s TropWATER, said the new fishways had been monitored for five days to assess the diversity and size of fish moving through. Results showed they would make an impact on the health of fish species and the waterways themselves.<\/p>\n

Opening up habitat for tens of thousands of fish<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are opening up habitat that many juvenile fish haven\u2019t been able to access, particularly in low-flow situations, for decades in some cases,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese structures are enabling migration for tens of thousands of fish. And the more habitat we can give fish access to, the more productive our fish stocks will be. Freshwater wetlands, creeks and rivers are important nursery grounds with abundant food resources that will help our native fish to grow fast, and to travel back downstream and breed in the tropical wet season.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u2018Fish Homes and Highways\u2019 project began with extensive survey work in the Herbert and Murray River catchments between Crystal Creek near Paluma and Tully, where more than 3,500 potential fish barriers were identified, leading to on-ground inspections of over 300 sites.<\/p>\n

The fishways were built at barriers like causeways and, in other places, bed-level crossings were built to replace causeways, or creek crossings were completely removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also removed aquatic weeds and there has been revegetation in an area where fish passage works were completed,\u2019\u2019 Terrain NRM\u2019s Deb Bass said.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section el_class=”grean-btn-sec” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”47″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_button dimension=”outline” url=”https:\/\/terrain.org.au\/what-we-do\/waterway-health\/murray-and-mossman\/” align=”right” el_class=”green-btn” outline_skin=”custom” outline_active_color=”#175137″ outline_active_text_color=”#ffffff” outline_hover_bg_color=”#175137″ outline_hover_color=”#ffffff”]Read More[\/mk_button][mk_padding_divider size=”100″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][mk_page_section section_id=”great-1-blog” sidebar=”sidebar-1″][vc_column][mk_padding_divider size=”105″ visibility=”hidden-sm”][mk_fancy_title size=”28″ letter_spacing=”4″ margin_bottom=”0″ font_family=”none” align=”right” el_class=”terrain-title”]RELATED NEWS[\/mk_fancy_title][mk_padding_divider visibility=”hidden-sm”][\/vc_column][\/mk_page_section][vc_row fullwidth=”true” fullwidth_content=”false” id=”post_grid_filter_1″][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”grid_greate_3″ css=”.vc_custom_1743746721463{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]\n

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