Fish movements in the Edward-Wakool, and greater Murray River system, can now be tracked thanks to a new collaborative project.
The Edward Wakool Angling Association has partnered with DPI Fisheries at Narrandera to release 22 specially tagged golden perch in the Edward River.
Also known as yellowbelly, each was fitted with state of the art tracking devices called Passive Integrated Transponders.
The small tracking devices were inserted just under the skin of the fish with a small surgical procedure.
“With the current high water flow, it was important that we released the fish now so we can gather more data on how the river flows and how water levels may reflect the movement of fish through our water ways,“ EWAA member Andrew Jefferies said.
“We will be tracking their movement and collecting as much data as possible.”
The trackers will send out signals that can be detected by receivers along the water’s edge. They are placed at strategic locations in the Murray Darling Basin.
The fish’s number is recorded and sent to the DPI Fisheries database, and uploaded to its system.
“We’ve seen from previous PIT tagging studies that fresh water native fish can travel up to 80km away, and then find their way back to the same stretch of river again a couple of weeks later,” Mr Jefferies said.
“Information like this is key. The more we have, the more we know and the better ‘scientifically proven’ decisions we can make in the future about protecting our native fish species.
“The PIT tags will last the lifetime of the fish, so hopefully with more funding the research can expand and we can get more tagged fish into the system.
“We are also working with DPI Fisheries and other groups on a way to make the information available online, so that the recreational fisherman and the general public can view the fish tracking movements.”
Mr Jefferies, who is also organiser of the now annual Edward Kolety Fishing Challenge, said funding from future challenges will help support the next stages of this data project.