Greta group protects native fish

Southern pygmy perch is a small-bodied native fish, which grows to 85 mm long, that is listed as threatened in Victoria.

Once widespread and abundant, the species has suffered dramatic declines in distribution and abundance, particularly since the 1980s.

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At the end of the millennium drought, only four naturally occurring populations were known to exist in Victoria and these populations are restricted to the granite-creeks region of the Strathbogie Ranges and the upper Avoca River.In 2018, a pilot program to establish refuge populations of the threatened species in four farm dams in north-east Victoria was completed under a state government program to reduce further declines in species biodiversity.

In March last year ARI conducted follow-up surveys at the sites.

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This determined that at two of the four dams, southern pygmy perch had survived the translocation and bred successfully.

Greta Landcare Group Project Officer Sally Day said the pilot was a success and confirmed it was possible to establish refuge populations of these fish in private farm dams.“Each of the farm dams serves like a separate breeding population, and so stock from the farm dams may in future be used to reintroduce the southern pygmy perch back into areas of suitable habitat within their former range,” Ms Day said.

“With the success of the pilot study, we continued to seek funding for us to expand the number of private farm dam refuges for this species.

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“We contacted the Into Our Hands Foundation with our request to establish southern pygmy perch populations in an additional eight to 10 farm dams in north-east Victoria.

“Into our Hands supported us to put in a grant application with the June Canavan Foundation and we were successful in receiving $10,000, which will assist us in continuing this important work.”

Ms Day said the group would also be looking for funding to help support a community information session and revegetation at the farm dam sites.“It is really fantastic to receive this funding, as our farm dam translocation project is the first of its kind in Victoria and has been instrumental in engaging with the community to provide practical, on-ground action to reduce risk to this species,” she said.

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“We have run information sessions and monitoring workshops and there has been great support for this program from our community and agricultural landholders.“Late last year, our group also received funding from the Australian Government’s Communities Environment Program to establish a refuge population of southern pygmy perch in Fosters Lake in Glenrowan.

“Due to bushfires and COVID-19, this project has been delayed, but will be expected to start this coming summer.

“This project will focus on the on ground activities at Fosters Lake that protect and enhance the natural environment to support the recovery of this species.

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“This will include revegetation of aquatic vegetation and placement of instream timber.

“Fish will be translocated from existing refuge populations in five farm dams in our Landcare group area, to Fosters Lake in Glenrowan.

“We are working with the Glenrowan Improvers Association and the North East CMA to complete this project.“It is really important that we are proactive in managing the threats to this species to prevent their local and regional extinction – by creating refuge populations in farm dams, we hope to increase the number of independent populations, which can act as a back-up in case of a catastrophic fire, drought or other impact to the isolated local populations.

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“We will soon be rolling out an Expression of Interest process for landholders in the mid-Ovens and King catchments who are interested in being involved in this project.”

● You can read more about this first project at this link.

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