Over the past 12 months, OzFish Unlimited, Australia’s fishing conservation charity, has taken citizen science to the next level using advanced technology and its army of recreational fishing volunteers. With the support of the international charity Global Giving, volunteer anglers can identify fish and other species, even the rarest of fish species, through water samples that have undergone environmental DNA (eDNA) assessment. Until now, sampling fish has been a challenge. There have been only a few ways to determine what fish species are in a specific waterway, and most of those are either highly skilled tasks such as electrofishing or highly destructive, like netting. EDNA allows researchers to obtain DNA from a simple water sample.

Local fishers have been central to the recovery of the habitat and fish stocks in the Cudgewa Creek, near Tintaldra in the Upper Murray, following the devastating 2019-20 summer bushfires. Cudgewa Creek, which meets the Murray river about 2km downstream of Tintaldra, is known for its populations of Murray cod, mountain galaxias and the national endangered trout cod Maccullochella macquariens, also known locally as the bluenose cod, over an area encompassing 825km2. After a large section of the Cudgewa Creek catchment was devastated by bushfire in 2019-20, significant fish kills were observed across the entire Upper Murray catchment. A complete loss of riparian vegetation ...

OzFish and Landcare Australia has given a leg up for a little-known endangered fish in Northern NSW, the Oxleyan Pygmy Perch (OPP), which had its home impacted by the catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires in Northern New South Wales. Bushfires and recent flooding had dramatically impacted the home of the OPP. The two groups are now working to protect and restore lost habitat for the small-bodied fish within the region to give it every chance of survival.

The devastating fires in 2019/20 that burnt Perigean Beach right up to the waterway has received some much needed help! Following the fires, the burnt trees and branches exposed the canopy and let many invasive weeds flourish. To combat the issue, we teamed up with Noosa Landcare and members from the OzFish Noosa Chapter to tackle the problem head-on thanks to funding by the Australian Government’s Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery program. The two groups of volunteers spent hours removing the weeds for the endangered Honey Blue Eye and Pigmy Perch along Murdering Creek who rely on the native trees for food and shelter. 

Did you know that water bugs require different water quality levels to survive? Which means – by checking out the bugs, we can test water quality! Recently, the OzFish Noosa Chapter hit the field to undertake their first ever water bug monitoring event, focusing their attention on the bushfire affected area of Murdering Creek, one of the waterways affected by the devastating Peregian Beach bushfire. The team of 20 OzFishers found hundreds of water bugs throughout the creek, and will use this information to review the recovery of the area after some habitat enhancements. Water bug monitoring is a fun, family-friendly way to get involved in caring for our waterways, and you too can get involved.

More than 400 jewel beetles (Hylaeogena jureceki) have been released into bushfire impacted areas on the Rocky River with the help of OzFish volunteers to assist fish habitat restoration. They are set to fill their stomachs and eat away at the invasive cats claw creeper which has been overwhelming natives trying to rejuvenate after the fires. The release location was scorched during the Black Summer bushfires and is located where a wild population of endangered Eastern Freshwater Cod is known to be surviving.

Motivated landowners have joined together with fishing conservation charity OzFish Unlimited and Landcare Australia to restore habitat of the endangered Freshwater Eastern Cod (Maccullochella ikei). Two kilometers of the Nymboida river (a perennial stream of the Clarence river catchment) will be recovered where one of the last remaining breeding grounds of a wild population is known to be surviving.

A bushfire recovery program led by Landcare Australia, delivered in partnership with OzFish Unlimited and Native Fish Australia (Victoria), will support initiatives to restore habitat for ten national priority threatened aquatic species in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales. The Landcare Australia Aquatic Wildlife Habitat Bushfire Program is funded by the Australian Government and will deliver support for on-ground activities with local community groups, OzFish chapters, the endangered native fish hatchery run by Native Fish Australia (Victoria) and landowners across 17 bushfire affected areas.

How much more can our fish take and how can you help? That’s the question being asked by Australia’s passionate recreational fishing community, along with our nation’s many fishing organisations, clubs, groups, industry and peak bodies following a string of natural disasters. As many fire-affected communities continue to recover and rebuild, there is a constant reminder of the devastating toll that drought, fire and floods have taken on our fish and aquatic life. And it can be seen in our waterways, with record numbers of fish kills, widespread habitat loss plus poor water quality. There are also still places with little to no water where many precious native fish have simply suffocated.