Torrens time again – native fish monitoring
Sylvia counting fish, with a little help from her friends.
We recently completed an autumn round of fish sampling of the Torrens River with over 17,000 fish across 11 species recorded. The catch was again dominated by freshwater generalists and introduced species, but the bumper catch of juvenile common galaxias observed in spring 2014 translated into a ten-fold increase in sub-adult and adult fish compared to this time last year – indicating increased survival of the species through the summer months. This response of common galaxias is considerable as this migratory species was absent from the Torrens River for almost 80 years before construction of a fishway on the 2.65 m outlet weir, which was acting as a barrier to migration. Other highlights of the monitoring included an impromptu fish ‘lesson’ for kids from a local school who were eager to know what we were up to whilst out on excursion, being snapped by professional photographer (thanks Jo) and again highlighting that the Torrens is home to lots of fish, much to the surprise of people who stopped to ask what we were doing.
The results of the fish monitoring were discussed with Spence Denny from ABC 891 – you hear the interview here.
Cheers
Nick
