Deniliquin Lagoons Community Restoration Project

Deniliquin Lagoons

The Deniliquin Lagoons project is a community partnership project that has been running since 2010. The lagoons were severely degraded with erosion and overrun by introduced plants and carp. Over the past 12 years, local volunteers have been hard at work removing pest species, establishing an endangered fish refuge area and a recreational fishing park by replanting native wetland plants and installing habitat homes for native fish.

Local community groups, including OzFishers, have worked together to improve the habitat for threatened Southern pygmy perch and eel-tailed catfish, commonly known as freshwater catfish.

The lagoons are known to be one of the only places in Australia where you can see freshwater catfish nesting with their young!

Ensuring the survival of threatened species

Now that key habitat features have been restored, threatened and recreational targeted native fish species, including Southern pygmy perch, Southern purple-spotted gudgeon, Olive perchlet and eel-tailed catfish are being relocated into the lagoons from creeks where they are in decline, or from captive-bred populations.

These threatened populations are growing and thriving.