Wetland Restoration Case Studies
Greenies Log on to Help Save Murray Fish
Verity Edwards
July 17, 2006
The Australian
A PLAN to drop 40 tonnes of giant red gums into the Murray is expected to boost the breeding cycles of native fish, save the river’s ecology and right past environmental wrongs.
Thousands of logs have been pulled from the Murray in recent decades to dredge boating channels, and the Greening Australia group is about to reverse the practice by undertaking the first large scale re-snagging project in South Australia.
Greening Australia state chief Mark Anderson said removing snags had altered breeding habitats and had led to a decline in fish stocks.
“It’s for fish breeding, particularly Murray cod and golden perch,” Mr Anderson said.
“The logs are breeding sites for these fish, and it’s a territorial site—they don’t just wander up and down the river.
“They need everything they can to live and breed.”
Murray Darling Basin Commission native fish strategy manager Dean Ansell said millions of snags had been removed from the nation’s rivers over the past 150 years because they were thought to hinder navigation and increase erosion. “Re-snagging has been much more of a focus in recent years as we learn how important the snags are for habitats,” Mr Ansell said.
Fish use snags to shelter from currents and predators, for feeding and spawning and as a nursery for their young.
Greening Australia—which focuses on restoring habitats—is searching for giant red gums that need to be moved or have fallen on farming land.
“We’re looking for trees that are nice and branched, that are big and at least 10m in length and 1m in girth,” Mr Anderson said.
“It’s where the tree has to go anyway—where it’s near a house or came down naturally.”
But the group is not looking for dead wood or old trunks that have been lying in paddocks for years. “The big dead gum that’s on your property is full of parrots and other birds and is an important habitat,” he said. “Living trees are going to sink nicely.”
Under the plan, the trees will be dropped into the river at the Paiwalla Wetland near Murray Bridge early next year.
Greening Australia is working with boating and fishing industry groups to ensure the logs will not impede river traffic.
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