Adelaide school students release endangered fish into River Torrens

In late November, students and staff from three Adelaide schools gathered on the banks of Torrens River at Lockleys with precious cargo. The schools (Urrbrae Agricultural College, Holy Family Catholic School and St Francis Xavier’s Regional Catholic School) had been given the very special task of breeding an endangered native fish species, the Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon, for reintroduction to the Adelaide River Torrens/Karrawirra Pari. This population started from just 50 original fish, rescued from a drying wetland during the Millennium Drought, then placed into surrogate breeding ponds across SA to build up numbers. The little fish hadn’t been seen in the River Torrens/Karrawirra Pari for over 100 years, until last year the initial release saw around 500 Gudgeons reintroduced to their former home.

This initial release a year ago proved to be successful, with some of the Gudgeons picked up in a subsequent survey. So, now it was the school students’ turn to release some of the fish they had been carefully raising in ponds and tanks at their schools. It was quite a hot day, so unfortunately some school’s students missed out due to their hot weather policies, but members of staff brought their fish along.

Students first helped to thread Vallisneria australis (‘val’), a submerged aquatic plant that improves water and habitat quality for fish, into jute matting to be planted out into the river. Students were able to don waders and plant the val themselves, along with another species – (Potamogeton crispus), eagerly planted out by three students from St Francis Xavier’s school. Sylvia has been busily growing the aquatic plants in tanks at NGT in Victor Harbor.

Their was much excitement as students headed into the water to finally release their fish! It was wonderful for the students and dedicated school staff to see results of all their hard work, and to be a part of real on-ground recovery action for this threatened species. It was a fantastic hands-on learning experience and great to see the students directly contributing to conservation.

A number of schools across SA have been part of the Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon Conservation Program managed by Nature Glenelg Trust, in partnership with the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board and Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board. Thanks to all those involved for their hard work and dedication. Please enjoy some photos of the day below:

This project is supported by Green Adelaide and the City of Marion.
The Southern Purple-spotted Gudgeon conservation program is managed by Nature Glenelg Trust, in partnership with the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board and Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board, and involves a number of schools across SA.

Below is a little video summarising the day… enjoy!