The Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority and the Goulburn Valley Environment Group have welcomed the late spring fresh announcement to encourage native fish spawning.
Flows into the Goulburn River will ramp up to a peak flow of around 7000 megalitres a day by November 16 before receding to a base flow of about 1000Ml a day by November 24.
After significant rain during October and a high river in the past 12 months, representatives of recreational fishers and local business owners questioned the timing.
The move is aimed at achieving record native fish spawning, focused on promoting golden perch spawning and migration while enhancing the overall food chain, according to the CMA, and the organisation is optimistic about replicating the success of the record 2020 spawning season.
Goulburn Broken CMA environmental water manager Simon Casanelia said environmental flows were crucial in creating favourable conditions for spawning and supporting the broader ecosystem.
“The key to successful golden perch spawning is warmer water temperatures and higher flows in late spring,” he said.
“There hasn’t been significant golden perch spawning since 2020 when water for the environment was used to trigger spawning that resulted in a large numbers of eggs being found.
“With current conditions nearly mimicking 2020, we have the ideal opportunity to reach a new record for the largest golden perch spawning in the Goulburn River.”
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder Simon Banks said after some wet years, conditions were primed and ready to support and increase the populations of the golden perch and other native fish.
“Across the Murray-Darling Basin, we work in partnership with numerous organisations to get the best results from water for the environment,” he said.
“For this release of water for the environment, we are working closely with Goulburn Broken CMA, the Victorian Environmental Water Holder as well as Goulburn-Murray Water, who manage the releases of environmental flows from their storages.”
The announcement was met by concern from the Victorian Recreational Fishing Peak Body, who said the flow was unnecessary with the high water levels over the last year and that the river needed “time to heal”.
Trelly’s Outdoor owner and Shepparton resident Steve Threlfall said the flow threatened to ruin cod season (opening on December 1) and could lead to huge losses for outdoor businesses heading into the Christmas period.
He also said there had only been about a month in total over the last year that fishers and outdoor enthusiasts have had access to the river in its usual state.
Goulburn Valley Environment Group spokesperson Terry Court believes the environmental flow would be too small to impact the cod season and that it was “actually timed very well”.
He said the conditions over the last 12 months favoured the flow and was a reason to do it, as the river was primed for a record spawning season.
Mr Court had been advocating for a sign to show the river level and have the megalitre per day accessible for all to see, be it on a bridge or another prominent local location.
He said the technology to do so existed, and that it would alleviate concerns and misconceptions about how high/low the river was.
Mr Court said the flow would not be big enough or go on long enough to impact platypus breeding.
“It’s very difficult to fit these (late spring freshes) in,” Mr Court said.
“So I think they’ve done a good job to fit it in before cod season and it’s timed very well.”