Environment

Fancy new digs for native fish

Jun 29, 2023

The hardwood snags and stumps used for the fish habitat project were donated by Emergency Recovery Victoria and came from storm damage in the Lancefield area.

An excavator with a log grab was used to place the timber into the Goulburn River at Horseshoe Lagoon, Trawool.

The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority recently completed a fish habitat enhancement project on the Goulburn River at Horseshoe Lagoon, Trawool.

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The project, funded through the Victorian Government’s Recreational Fishing Grants Program, involved the strategic placement of 87 large snags and root balls into the river.

Goulburn Broken CMA’s Collin Tate said the project replaced fish habitat, which was removed from the river many years ago.

“Snags were being removed from the Goulburn River up until the 1970s because people believed extracting them would improve river flows and make it easier for boats to manoeuvre,” Mr Tate said.

“This de-snagging did a lot of damage to the ecology of the river and had an impact on the fish population. And we now know that the removal of the snags had very little impact on flows in the river.”

The hardwood snags and stumps used for the project were donated to Goulburn Broken CMA by Emergency Recovery Victoria and were the result of storm damage in the Lancefield area.

Large trucks carted timber to Horseshoe Lagoon and an excavator with a log grab was used to place the timber into the river.

Mr Tate said the project also involved the rehabilitation of degraded riverbanks.

“We planted native trees and shrubs which will eventually lead to a natural input of snags through limbs and trees falling into the river.

“The snags will provide refuge and breeding sites for fish in the area, which will boost the fish population and result in more fish in the Goulburn River at Trawool for anglers to target.”

He said recent electro-fishing surveys revealed many Murray cod had taken up residence in and around the new snags.

“Native fish love snags. The housing crisis is over in this special stretch of the Goulburn.”

The project is one of three Recreational Fishing Grants Program projects being delivered by Goulburn Broken CMA, with a project also under way on the Goulburn River at Wyuna and another being planned for the Goulburn River near Nagambie.