Threatened fish persisting around the Lower Lakes
Chris Bice (SARDI) and I recently undertook monitoring of threatened fish communities around the Lower Lakes, as part of a project funded by the CLLMM group of DEWNR (as part of the SA Governments Murray Futures program and the Australian Governments Water for the Future initiative). This project continues on from conservation efforts during the millennium drought and most recently dedicated reintroductions of four threatened species over 2011 and 2013.
Our monitoring highlighted that habitat continues to improve across the region and all four reintroduced threatened species were detected. Numbers of the four threatened species were low, indicating that recovery continues to be slow, but there are ongoing signs of wild recruitment. Repeat monitoring next autumn will allow us to gain a clear picture on the status of these threatened species in the region.
For more information on the history of conservation efforts for threatened fish species around the Lower Lakes, click on the project page here.
Cheers
Nick
Evidence of habitat change around the Lower Lakes during the last drought, that resulted in major declines to native fish populations that are now slowly recovering
