Waterway Fire Science
Monitoring the impact of bushfires on our waterways
OzFish, in partnership with Landcare NSW, established a task force of citizen scientists to monitor how waterways, fish habitats, and native fish populations were recovering from the Summer 2019-20 bushfires.
Ruined Castle Bushfire Ben Pearse (2019)
Taking action after the Black Summer Bushfires
Coming after a period of prolonged drought, the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019-20 ravaged the east coast of Australia on an unprecedented scale. The fires were followed by high rainfall, dealing a further devastating blow to our precious and unique waterways.
OzFish created the Waterway Fire Science program to enlist the support of the recreational fishing community in determining how waterways, fish habitat, and fish populations recovered from the bushfires. Our NSW Chapters worked with local Landcare NSW groups to collect data at locations across the state that helped inform fish habitat recovery and restoration into the future.
OzFish produced a series of training videos to help anglers and other volunteers use different monitoring techniques to measure the health of their local waterway.
Get the latest tools and knowledge to discover more about your local fishing ecosystem.
Increasing the scope of the program
Following flooding that impacted many of the coastal catchments of NSW, OzFish increased the scope of the program to collect data in the wake of extreme weather events including flood and drought, as well as fire.
Further monitoring techniques were introduced to enable OzFish to collect information about the recovery of our waterways.
Monitoring methods
A range of bespoke monitoring methods were created, meaning that volunteers didn’t need any experience in water quality monitoring or management to get involved in the program. They came along with passion for restoring and protecting healthy fish habitat and a willingness to learn.
Some of the techniques used included new eDNA technology that can identify if elusive species are in the area or not, and water quality surveys to determine the waterway’s temperature, salinity and volume of dissolved oxygen. This information helped identify and measure the threats posed to Australia’s waterways, with the information passed onto researchers.
Cameras were also used to assess the recovery of trees and determine the extent of riverbank erosion, as well as capturing footage of fish and other animals as they returned to the area.
In addition to the camera footage, OzFish relied on citizen scientists to record fish and other wildlife sightings manually. Another core and important activity is surveying riverbanks for the percentage cover of vegetation and how habitats are connecting with each other to better understand the rate of recovery.
LATEST NEWS
17 MAY 2022 | eDNA Sampling uncovering threatened fish species
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.
6 DECEMBER 2021 | OzFish and Landcare NSW Launches Citizen Science Initiative To Help Bushfire affected waterways in NSW
OzFish in partnership with Landcare NSW has today announced a state-wide citizen science program in a bid to monitor the recovery of waterways since the 2019-2020 Black Summer Bushfires. The project aims to mobilise community groups and recreational fishers to self-monitor the recovery of their local waterways.
