More than 10 years after a moratorium was placed on crayfishing, discussions are underway to lift the ban in Deniliquin and district from 2024.
It follows the release of more than 1500 freshwater crayfish and hundreds of native fish back into the Murray River system earlier this year, thanks to a rescue and relocation operation resulting from the 2022 floods.
The threatened Murray crayfish and other aquatic animals were in danger of suffocating after record rainfall produced ‘hypoxic blackwater’, causing dissolved oxygen levels to plummet across the Riverina.
In NSW, rescue and relocation operations were undertaken by the state Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries, OzFish Unlimited, First Nations and community groups, volunteers and farmers over the summer months – funded by the Murray Darling Basin Authority.
Deniliquin-based ecologist Dr John Conallin, who took part in the local operation with the Edward Wakool Angling Association, said 107 crayfish were rescued over a 20km-30km stretch of the Edward River, between Four Post Camp and the Deniliquin Boat Club, from November.
In the months since their release back into the system, he said the project was “successful” and that they were “very happy” with the survival rate.
“Because there is mortality, some died and we released 90,” he said.
“Crayfish are a legislated, threatened species. So through legislation, we should be actively monitoring and trying to, if need be, we should be then trying to restore these populations.”
“From a community point of view, they're an exceptionally important cultural species, a food species and a way that brings families together in the wintertime … and (crayfishing) brings economy to local towns.”
But since a moratorium was placed on crayfishing in 2013, Dr Conallin says this has been lost and there are “community aspirations” to change this.
“Recreational fishers and traditional owners want to see the evidence for why that (ban) is still in place,” he said.
“We've lost a generation now of people who would go as families out in the wintertime and fish crayfish. That's what we did in the winter in the bush.”
“Crayfishing brought economy to the town, because people would come in, even locals, and you would spend money on nets and fuel and all that type of stuff because you're getting out in the bush and we've lost that.”
Dr Conallin said in response to this, they’re currently in discussions with NSW DPI Fisheries about “implementing a monitoring programme”.
“So we're having discussions about having citizen science monitoring of crayfish (populations),” he said.
“We want to discuss crayfish weekends, or crayfish days, where people are able to go out. We collect that data, but there is to be no take.”
Dr Conallin said this would also include advocating for active management of the crayfish populations, such as translocation and/or artificial breeding.
“But we won't know any of that until we assess the populations that we have, and we haven't done that yet,” he said.
“We were planning on doing that this season, that was part of the discussions.
“But of course, now we've gone into flood and you're unable to crayfish during those high flows. We'll probably get all the planning in place, and then we'll look to instigate that next year.”