I have been spending time cleaning up 'My Pictures', and came across some that I thought might be of interest to readers. About two years ago we were invited to a property close by to learn about a fishway that had been installed on a small private weir on our river. The fish in the photograph above is a small Murray Cod, which is one of our most sought after native freshwater fish. The river is also home to the Golden Perch or 'Yellowbelly', and both are extremely good eating fish. However, due to the nature of our river systems, and the weirs installed, there are many times when the river is reduced to nothing more than waterholes in many stretches. It is difficult for the 'trapped' fish to survive in these instances. The Department of Fisheries have been installing these fishways in our river systems in the hope of maintaining the breeding of these native species. You can read a little more about the fishway designs here. This website explains the process much better than I would be capable of doing.
This photograph shows some of the people standing down in the dry river bed, with the weir above. I have not checked with our neighbours since the floods to see how the installation fared with the bulk of water that would have engulfed it. This private weir, with a 'very' small wall was built prior to WWII, and has obviously withstood many floods.
I've taken this photograph to show the ramp/ladder type construction that was built to help fish move upstream and into the bigger waterholes, hopefully maintaining the species for all those amateur anglers who love nothing better than to take home a good sized fish for dinner!! If you enlarge the photograph, you can see the 'ladder' on the far edge.
Unfortunately, the fish also have to compete for habitat with a number of introduced and troublesome species, not the least of which is the 'carp'. It is a jolly nuisance when you are fishing, taking the bait, and in the end you have nothing. You don't eat carp, they are just too bony, absolutely horrible to try and make a meal out of..................
I hope this little post is of interest to some people. This river system is one of the largest in the world, and is the subject of much debate at the moment, due to environmental issues. You can see a few statistics here.
7 comments:
My brother would love your post. He used to live at Moama and loved fishing the Murray. Gret pictures, bring back lots of memories
How interesting ,i just cooked a fish for dinner and here you have a post about fish.You know that people in Europe love there carp ,i once made comment how bad the carp is and thought that i started WWII.
Linda, this is interesting. I know in Europe carp are popular to eat but they are just a pest here infesting our rivers and stirring up the mud.
It is funny the way we have to make "arrangements" for the creatures. They are building a new freeway down our way and have to make allowance for the frogs and other little beings.
Thanks for showing us this.
very interesting Linda. I have spent countless days fishing...as a child in the Barwon and later in the Balonne and Yuleba Creek.
mmmmmm delicious fish. Only good carp or euro is a dead one lol. Love trout, yellow belly, and redfin but it has been soooo long since my brother has been out fishing. Must be over 6 years. Should get some bait and give him some ideas about angling lol. Those fish ways are on the huge weir at Torrumbarry on the Murray river about 20 mins from here.
Hello, hello everybody. This is coming from Germany. I want to tell you that I hate carp. They are fat and don't taste at all well. I love salmon and Atlantic fish which is not grown artificially. Salmon is, we know. Your story Linda, is interesting. Thank you !!
You always give us interesting things to read about Linda. I must say that living on the coast I prefer ocean fish....
Post a Comment