News

Flow for fish to move, breed and grow

Written by West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority

We all know that fish need plenty of clean water to thrive… but did you know that ‘water for the environment’ is being delivered across West Gippsland for this very reason?

Water for the environment is a share of water put aside especially for the environment. Planning ensures that the right amount of environmental water is released into rivers and wetlands at just the right time to help plants and animals to feed, breed, move and grow.

Sometimes this water is released slowly across time to top up the waterway when it’s getting low. This helps fish, eels and platypus move between deeper pools, giving them better access to food and habitat.

Other times the water is released more rapidly as a small ‘pulse’ across several days, which tells fish when to breed and move. This can also be helpful to flush out poor quality water and harmful algae.

These water releases are designed to mimic the natural seasonal rise and fall of the river, which has been interrupted by dams and water extraction for farming, urban and residential uses.

West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (CMA) is responsible for managing water for the environment in the Carran Carran (Thomson River), Wirn Wirndook Yeerung (Macalister River), and Durt’Yowan (Latrobe) rivers as well as the Lower Latrobe Wetlands, on behalf of the Victorian Environmental Water Holder.

Up to 85 GL of water for the environment can be delivered to these waterways this year – that’s 85 billion litres or 34,000 Olympic swimming pools. All to help maintain a healthy environment for fish, including recreational species.

Water for the environment has been used in West Gippsland to:

  • Help increase catch rates for adult Australian bass in the Carran Carran (Thomson) and Wirn Wirndook Yeerung (Macalister) rivers.
  • Help increase catch rates for River blackfish in the Carran Carran (Thomson River) with 2023 being a particularly good year.
  • Trigger migration and spawning of Australian grayling.
  • Trigger migration and increase catch rate of Tupong in the Carran Carran (Thomson River).
  • Provide conditions for eels to thrive and migrate.
  • Reduce a blue-green algae outbreak and improve water quality in the Wirn Wirndook Yeerung (Macalister River).

West Gippsland CMA relies on the expertise of advisory groups to help plan and time water releases. We value their local knowledge and feedback. These groups meet twice a year and include recreational fishing representatives. If you’d like to learn more about these advisory groups, you can email West Gippsland CMA at [email protected].

To keep up to date with when and why water for the environment is being delivered you can sign up to receive email or SMS notifications here: WGCMA | Current water releases.

Photo: Australian Bass being released into the Latrobe River by Dr Adrian Clements of the West Gippsland CMA in partnership with the Victorian Fisheries Authority.

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