july 1 - 7 | 2015
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circulating in wangaratta, myrtleford, bright, mt beauty, beechworth, yackandandah, rutherglen, chiltern and districts
Currents of change By KYLIE WILSON
IN NATURE:
DELWP/ARI senior technician Andrew Pickworth (right) releases a cod as fish ecology scientist Scott Raymond looks on.
GARDENING WITH
DEBBI
RSPCA
FILM
BINKY
TERMINATOR:
WITH
WINE TALK
GENISYS
‘I know WAW go the extra mile for their customers.’
WITH
ANITA
SCOTT Raymond gets his hands on more Murray cod than most fishermen, but none of this iconic native species end up on his dinner table. Dr Raymond is a fish ecology scientist with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI), who has spent the past 18 years surveying cod populations along the Murray River, and is presently focused on areas between Yarrawonga and Tocumwal. He carries out each count using electrofishing boats, which use electromagnetic pulses to attract and temporarily stun the fish so they can be placed in tanks inside the boats and examined and tagged before being released. The tags help scientists track the movement of fish as time goes on, to get an even firmer idea of fish numbers and movement. Comparisons are constantly carried out from site to site, and from year to year, to get a proper idea of the conditions in which fish populations thrive the best. “We measure movement patterns, when and how far they’ve gone and what’s inducing them,” Dr Raymond said. He said continued research had shown that Murray cod in the river are doing the best in places where snags and slows had created habitats. Last year’s survey of both the Ovens and Murray rivers found the highest number of fish in 14 years, and Dr Raymond said numbers this year look promising in terms of maturing fish, especially those between 1-1.3m long. “They seem to be going quite strong,” he said, noting that smaller fish aged between one to three years seem to also be going well. continued page |
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