Every year 100 million native fish are killed by irrigation pumps when they get sucked into the pumps and swept down irrigation channels. But a simple solution could stop this carnage. Installing fish screens on pumps may just be one of the most important restoration projects of the 21st century for the Murray Darling Basin.
Saving Our Saltmarsh project, on the lower Richmond River estuary is a project that local Richmond River Chapter volunteer fishers are personally passionate about. Saltmarsh is critically important to the health of the lower Richmond River and its fish population. These communities are important to water quality, bank stability and as fish habitat and fish food source.
Tenterfield Creek has been in dire need of rehabilitation. Vital fish habitat has been modified, lost or destroyed through human-induced change. This along with drought, fire and floods has put enormous pressure on native fish populations and fewer fish means reduced fishing.
OzFish Northwest Chapter in Tamworth is restoring native fish habitat in their local Peel river. Historically desnagging and removal of vegetation from the riverbanks have contributed to a decline in fish stocks. The Peel River has known populations of threatened species
OzFish Australia’s only fishing conservation charity in 2020 hosted a series of public talks called Thinking Fish – about fishing and its future across Australia. These public TEDx style talks are given by experts passionate and knowledgeable about fish and fishing. They outline issues important to fish and how local communities can help protect and enhance fishing habitats across the country, the talks will be thinking big, thinking fish and thinking future.
Like many of our major rivers and lakes, the Macquarie River in NSW is drying out and our native fish are in desperate need of our help to survive.
A major fish rescue being driven by recreational fishing volunteers from Dubbo’s Inland Waterways OzFish Chapter in partnership with NSW Department of Primary Industries Fisheries (DPI) was completed to prevent further fish kills.
OzFish Unlimited and Landcare NSW have joined forces to empower local communities across NSW to improve their local waterways. Focusing on on-ground works to improve the health of habitats in their local rivers, the partnership will enable OzFish chapters and local Landcare groups to work together to deliver river restoration projects.
OzFish River Repair Bus is used to transport work for the dole participants and tools to and from the river bank to undertake habitat restoration activities such as riparian plantings and river clean-ups around the Macquarie River in Dubbo. Participants typically spend three days a week working along a 40 km stretch of the Macquarie River. Teams focus on removing rubbish, planting native trees and eradicating invasive weeds along the river banks.
This OzFish project is about reversing the decline of the local fishery and improving the water quality of rivers, specifically the Richmond River through community education within schools. Students learn about river regeneration, how wetlands support the ecology of the river and take away the general message about how they can contribute to keeping our local environment sustainable.
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