February 28, 2023
The Taylors Weir Fishway on Taylors Creek, located in the north-central region of Victoria is set to begin construction as part of The North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA’s) vision to restore native fish populations, improve waterway health, and create a world-class native fishery in the Gunbower and lower Loddon region.
The project, which is due for completion in 2024 is funded by the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action under the Victorian Building Works stimulus package. The total construction budget includes $1.6million in co-funding from the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office Environmental Activities Framework (CEAF).
The Taylors Weir Fishway project is part of The Native Fish Recovery Plan which aims to restore native fish populations and waterway health in the Central Murray system in northern Victoria.
The project will address a major barrier to native fish passage between Ghow (Kow) Swamp and Gunbower Creek through the construction of a vertical slot fishway at Taylors Weir. This will return upstream native fish movement and connectivity from the Loddon River through to the Gunbower system, improving upstream and downstream fish migration.
The project will be the third fishway completed in just 3 years as part of the Native Fish Recovery Plan which links approximately 400km of streams and waterways in the Gunbower and Loddon systems to 500km of the Murray River.
In 2021, 2 vertical slot fishways were constructed on Gunbower Creek, Cohuna Weir and Koondrook Weir, which both now provide contiguous passage to native fish such as the iconic vulnerable Murray cod and wild populations of golden perch from the Murray River into Gunbower Creek for the first time in more than a century.
Since the completion of the works at Cohuna and Koondrook, the Murray Cod population has been thriving, with local anglers reporting that this is the most being caught in living memory. The completion of The Taylors Weir Fishway will be a fantastic result not only for native fish species and river health, but for recreational fishers who wish to cast a line in northern Victoria.
