Full Title
Optimising Environmental Watering Protocols to Maximise Benefits to Native Fish Populations
Contact Person
Daryl Nielsen
Project Team
Details
Funding Body
National Water Commission
Duration
June 2007 to December 2011
Outcomes
Details
Summary
This project is equally partnered with the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. Collaborators; NSW Murray Wetlands Working Group, Goulburn Broken CMA, North East CMA, Murray CMA and MDBC.
This project will develop appropriate monitoring protocols to demonstrate the ecological benefits of wetland watering and underpin the implementation of effective adaptive management options for native fish.
The project is a collaboration between wetland managers and research providers, and will evaluate the fish community response to inundation in a series of actively managed wetlands on the Murray River, between Hume Dam and Echuca. The wetlands will have a variety of connection types to the River (disrupted flood way, open floodway, constructed regulators, open channel etc.) and management interventions. Wetlands will be monitored to relate changes in the fish community to characteristics of the habitat such as water quality, food abundance, food quality and habitat complexity. Experimental manipulations using both large mesocosms and field experimentation will also allow field patterns to be explored.
Specifically, the project will:
- Trial established and newly conceptualised wetting protocols in actively managed wetlands and designated reaches, by:
- monitoring the productivity and condition of wetland and riverine fish and invertebrate assemblages;
- monitoring the exchange of fish into and out of wetlands in response to managed and natural watering events;
- monitoring the exchange of organic material and nutrients between wetlands and the river in response to managed and natural watering events; and
- monitor changes in productivity within the river channel as floodwaters recede.
- Conduct targeted experimental manipulations of key habitat variables to determine their impact on fish recruitment and production.
- Undertake extensive briefing of consortium partners on the early results with the aim of experimentally modifying and then evaluating newly developed wetting protocols.
- Produce predictive tools linking the extent, timing and duration of floodplain and wetland inundation to native fish recruitment.
- Produce refined wetting protocols and monitoring recommendations for implementation across a broad range of wetland types. A demonstration wetland will be used as the focus of a wetland management workshop that will encourage wetland managers to present their data on wetting protocols and their effectiveness. The information presented will be synthesised and complied into a final report.
