Flush to attract fish

“This annual water delivery is referred to as the Goulburn River Autumn Fresh,” Mr Casanelia said.

“A fresh is flow that increases the height of the river for a short period of time, so people may notice variations in the river height in March. It’s undertaken to help maintain the health of the river.”

A fresh increases bank soil moisture, which helps plants to grow and moves sediments from the riverbed to maintain habitat for water bugs and native fish.

It also increases the habitat available for native fish, platypus and water bugs by inundating connected anabranches and wetlands and provides a cue to native fish to migrate into the river.

“This water delivery is being undertaken to entice golden and silver perch to make a new home in the Goulburn River to increase their local populations,” Mr Casanelia said.

“The Goulburn River is reliant on golden and silver perch migration from the broader Murray River to sustain healthy populations and there are large numbers of all sizes of these fish moving up the Murray River, which we hope to attract.”

The fresh is planned to peak in late March at approximately 6000ML/day (a river height of 4.3m at Shepparton) before slowly dropping back to approximately 1000ML/day (a river height of 2.7m at Shepparton) in early April.

This is well below the minor flood level (9.5m at Shepparton) and within the interim operating rules for the lower Goulburn River in place from November to April.

Visitors to the river should be aware the water level may rise by approximately 50cm over the Labour Day long weekend.

Monitoring of fish movement in response to the fresh will be undertaken by the Arthur Rylah Institute and funded by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

Tagging of silver and golden perch has started at Torrumbarry weir and their movement will be tracked with acoustic receivers placed at various locations in the Murray River and its tributaries.