Citizen scientists and researchers check fish populations in the Saltwater Creek catchment
A team of recreational fishers and researchers spent two days collecting baseline data on fish populations in the Saltwater Creek catchment to help understand our fish and environmental impacts.
Recreational fishers put their castnetting skills to good use to monitor fish in Saltwater Creek.
Saltwater Creek and other small coastal catchments in Cairns contain some of the highest diversity of native fish found in urban waters in Australia.
The project team sampled eight sites across the catchment, including saltwater and freshwater environments.
Volunteers used cast nets to collect fish and prawns. Dr Brendan Ebner from JCU TropWATER also conducted backpack electrofishing and aided species identification.
OzFish Senior Project Manager, Dr Geoffrey Collins, said the team collected some important baseline data on fish in the catchment
“As a highly modified urban catchment, there are clear limitations on how fish are able to move throughout these waterways, mainly as a result of urban infrastructure such as roads, drains and culverts. Fish are also impacted by routine maintenance work such as dredging, and are also greatly affected by water quality.” Said Dr Collins.
“We had some great support from people who came along and donated their time to help out with throwing cast nets, collecting water quality data and measuring fish.
“We would like to extend our thanks to all who volunteered their time and experience to make these first round of fish surveys a success.”
Follow-up surveys will be conducted again in the mid-late wet season and will be weather-dependent. The information gathered will help present a clearer picture of how fish populations change with alterations in flow and temperature and will be used to inform routine management of these waterways.
Cairns Regional Council said that they were thrilled the community were getting involved and keen to see the results.
“In 2018, Cairns Regional Council led the development of the Cairns Recreational Fishing Strategy 2018-2022 working closely with representatives from the recreational fishing community and other stakeholders.” Said Mayor Bob Manning.
“That strategy recognises the importance of a healthy ecology and natural environment to sustainable recreational fishing in our region. The surveys undertaken at Saltwater Creek are a fantastic example of collaboration between recreational fishers and researchers. Work like this is critical to ensuring fish species in the waterways of Cairns prosper and that sustainable recreational fishing can continue to be a part of the Cairns way of life for generations to come.”
OzFish members and volunteers will be getting back on the water to conduct follow-up sampling of these same locations in the mid-late wet season. You can register your interest on the OzFish website to take part here.
This project is funded through a Communities Environment Program (CEP) grant to Cairns Regional Council. CEP grants are an Australian Government initiative that supports small-scale, on-ground projects to address local environmental priorities and strengthen communities.
