These activities are run weekly and include fish surveys, macroinvertebrate sampling and water quality monitoring. Creekwatch volunteers are also involved in litter sweeps and riparian vegetation assessments. The data collected during Creekwatch activities helps to better manage Townsville’s waterways and improve habitat for fish.
Volunteers participate in regular environmental monitoring and management activities to achieve local ownership of their waterways, learn new skills and meet like-minded people. OzFish is thrilled to be running the program in Townsville providing education, resources and on-ground support.
This program has a flexible structure that allows participation in Creekwatch activities for part of the year, or all year round.
Groups are provided with equipment and training to conduct activities independently, with guidance and support from OzFish. Get in touch to find out how you can join!
We’d love you to join us in monitoring the homes of our favourite fish! Our activities include waterbug sampling, fish surveys and water quality testing. If you are keen to...
This report details the results of the program for the period July 2022 – June 2023. The program encourages community members to be actively involved in long-term monitoring activities and to become custodians of waterways in the Townsville City Council area. Regular activities include macroinvertebrate sampling, fish surveys, and water…
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This report details the results of the program for the period January – June 2022, it also presents comparisons with results dating back to April 2021. The program encourages community members to be actively involved in long-term monitoring activities and to become custodians of waterways in the Townsville City Council…
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OzFish has been running the Creekwatch program for Townsville City Council since early 2021 which includes weekly monitoring of waterways around the region. A core group of volunteers have assisted with the weekly monitoring activities, which have focussed primarily on macroinvertebrate and fish sampling. A total of 22 sites have…
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This report details the results of the program for the period January – June 2021. Creekwatch activities are presently undertaken at 14 streams, creeks, and rivers across the Townsville region. These systems are monitored weekly on a Wednesday morning on a rotational basis. Some systems, such as Crystal Creek or…
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Citizen science in North Queensland has had a strong start to the year with involvement from community members, schools, and home-schooling groups in the regular Creekwatch Townsville program, run by OzFish. As the region develops, new infrastructure and changes can disturb valuable ecosystems. Creekwatch endeavours to offer a helping hand by monitoring the local waterways and reporting the findings to Townsville City Council.
Good science is based on good data, and there’s no better community to contribute to good fisheries management than the recreational fishing community. Creekwatch is a community awareness and citizen science program established by Townsville City Council, and is designed to encourage community members to participate in fish monitoring. By doing so, locals grow their knowledge and capacity, and help fill data gaps and improve their understanding of waterway health. Recently, we caught up with Nathan Frisby, Northern Queensland Program Manager, who is leading the program and is personally motivated to make sure his local waterways are better today, then they were yesterday.
