Healthy stock of natives in Ovens

Officers probe into murky depths of river

Written by HARVEY DYKE. Wangaratta Chronicle 6 Feb 09

PROBING fisheries officers have found healthy native fish numbers in the Ovens River, at Wangaratta.

Officers have been using an electrofishing technique, monitoring the river from Myrtleford to Bundalong, as part of an ongoing national fish recovery program.

With metal tentacles sending 1000 volts into the water, all fish in an area of about four metres square are stunned and float to the surface.

Carp are destroyed, but native fish are tagged and released, none the worse for the experience.

The good news is that native fish numbers are healthy and on the increase, while the number of carp being caught is declining.

"There are heaps of small Murray cod here (Wangaratta)," said Jarod Lyon, a fish ecologist with the DSE, “but the really promising news is that our program to restock the river with the critically endangered trout cod is succeeding.

"We’ve put over 300,000 trout cod into the Ovens over the last 12 years, and that time has been needed to get an indication of how well we’re doing.

"Because trout cod are aggressive feeders, anglers quite often catch them, but the fish have to be returned unharmed to the water and we’re confident that anglers are generally doing the right thing."

Department of Sustainability and Environment senior biodiversity officer, Glen Johnson, said action being taken to improve the condition of the river is paying off.

"Certainly, there are ongoing problems because of sediment caused by bushfires, weeds and the drought, but our removal of willows and re-snagging of the river is improving the environment for native fish," Mr Johnson said.

"The in-stream habitat is as important as leaf fall and other woody debris from the native vegetation along the banks, and our intervention is helping to re-dress the balance between native and exotic fish.

"The news is positive, and compared with most other Victorian rivers, the Ovens is in good health."