NGT leads new research project to improve threatened fish conservation

In exciting news NGT will be leading a new threatened fish research project in the Coorong, Lower Lakes, and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) region!

The project team includes partners from CSIRO and the University of Adelaide. This important project, led by NGT’s senior aquatic ecologist Dr Sylvia Zukowski runs until March 2026, and is funded by the Australian Government through the CLLMM Research Centre. It will “utilise modelling, field research and community engagement to explore ways to improve conservation and management of small-bodied threatened fishes in the face of climate change.” A particular focus will be on the Yarra Pygmy Perch and Southern Pygmy Perch. The project will improve our knowledge of these species through modelling, field surveys, site and management action identification, and biological investigations, to better conserve them in a changing climate. The project will result in better management for conservation, including management of water, wild and captive populations, and reintroduction ecology.

A summary is shown below from pp 68-69 of the CLLMM Research Centre’s Research Plan 2023-2026 (Whiterod, N. (2024). The Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) Research Centre Research Plan 2023–26. The Goyder Institute for Water Research, CLLMM Research Centre, Goolwa, South Australia.)

Some Background about the CLLMM Research Centre (from the CLLMM Research Centre Research Plan 2023–26):
“The Goyder Institute for Water Research Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth (CLLMM) Research Centre was announced by the Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, in October 2022, following the advocacy of Rebekah Sharkie MP, Deputy Premier Susan Close MP and local community members. The Institute received an $8 million grant from the Australian Government over four years (2022–26) to establish the CLLMM Research Centre to work with communities and First Nations to investigate the impacts of climate change on the CLLMM region. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is the funding administrator of the CLLMM Research Centre. The Research Centre entered its establishment phase on 1 July 2023 and is being delivered by the Goyder Institute for Water Research. The Goyder Institute for Water Research is a partnership between the South Australian Government through the Department for Environment and Water, CSIRO, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of South Australia.”

Congratulations Sylvia and team. We will share some more updates as the project progresses.

You can view the complete CLLMM Research Centre Research Plan 2023–26 below:

This project is funded through the CLLMM Research Centre, by the Australian Government (The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW))