shared benefits from environmental watering - recreational uses (angling) - by jarod lyon
TRANSCRIPT
Jarod Lyon (ARI), Rob Loates (VRFish), Anthony Forster (Fisheries)
Acknowledgments for Historical records: William Trueman (2007). SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF NATIVE FISH IN THE MURRAY-DARLING SYSTEM WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE
TROUT COD Maccullochella macquariensis
Shared benefits from environmental watering –
Recreational uses Case Study: Angling
Background
•All sorts of recreational users for whom water is important– Environmental water is part of this mix– We focus here on fish and fisheries– Cultural importance picked up in another presentation
•Why are fish & fishers important?
•What are the key things fisho’s (anglers, researchers and managers) care about when it comes to environmental watering in Victoria?
•What are the key things we are doing that environmental water managers might want to know about?
•What are the best ways to further involve fisho’s in the Victorian environmental watering program?
•Our key questions to the VEWH
History
“Grandpa” Pendergast was over ninety years of age when I called to
talk to him in Wodonga…. Grandpa Pendergast had fished out of
Omeo in the Big River or headwaters of the Mitta Mitta River, to the
eastern side of the mountains. The expeditions in his youth had been
by horse-drawn vehicle in an area where even summer temperatures
at night can produce ‘brass monkey’ conditions. He said they would
get to the river on the first day and sometimes catch enough blue
nose and white eye on he first night to be on the way home in the
pre-dawn chill of the next day. He said, as any old white eye or cod
fisherman might say, “You know they bite best at night”
Trout cod – Mitta @ Gibbo Park, circa 1935
Why are fish important?
• We have all of this historical information, because people value fish– They have huge community support
• Vocal angling lobby with whom DSE and CMA’s are increasingly working in partnership
• Particularly in regional areas• Provide a fantastic link to other key stakeholders (ie
farmers as anglers)
• We need to view them not just as fish, but as the ‘end product’ of investment in water and catchments
Why is fishing important?
• 720,000 Victorian fishers
• 5,000 jobs in regional Victoria
• $820 million direct annual expenditure
• 200 angling clubs
• Habitat stewards
Water and fish
• They live in it!• Every water decision impacts them• Competing demands• Conservation vs fishery objectives• Negatives and positives
– Creation of impoundment fisheries +ve– Tailrace trout fisheries +ve– Unseasonal flow - ve
E-Water and fish
• Aim to mimic components of a river’s natural flow regime
• Limited volume water available • Need to maximise ecological and fishery
benefits • Environmental flow objectives for fish
– often aimed at enhancing fish populations via:• Stimulate spawning• Increase productivity (thus, growth and survival)• dispersal between habitats• habitat maintenance
Wimmera River Drought refuge
2.6 GL released for: threatened catfish, reduce salinity and risk of fish kills, protect riparian bottlebrush
What are the key things fisho’s care about when it comes to environmental watering in Victoria?
• Healthy, self sustaining fish stocks, which support recreational angling
• Smart decision making based on evidence and experience
• Real outcomes• Reduced impacts on fisheries from floodplain
watering (ie blackwater)• Evidence that it works – recovering fish stocks
(better fishing)
Shared benefits of ewatering
• Currently watering based around conservation objectives– Conservation/fisheries objectives align
• Growth and survival of stocked fish• Movement of fish through fishways• Flow around Habitat (and restored habitat)• Lateral connectivity• Trout/Impoundment fisheries
What are the key things we are doing that environmental water managers might want to know about?
• Increasing interest (and investment) in fish habitat• Getting best bang for buck from reducing
resources (RFL)• Stocking (rebuilding threatened species)• Understanding limiting factors to native fish
recruitment
What are the best ways to further involve fisho’s in the Victorian environmental watering program?
• Establish reference group (build awareness & advocacy)• Demonstrate benefits (returns on stocking, habitat and
water investments)• Direct participation (monitoring / surveys)• Celebrate & publish good ewater news to the angling
fraternity• Improve social media• Target fishing media / opinion leaders