Grants awarded to scale up fish habitat
by Victorian Fisheries Authority 14 Nov 07:49 UTC
Restored golden kelp in Port Phillip Bay © Jarrod Boord
More habitat, food and shelter will be created for Victoria's much-loved freshwater and saltwater fish species through four projects sharing in $670,000 in grants.
Victorian Fisheries Authority CEO Travis Dowling said the latest round of Fish Habitat Improvement Fund grants were part of a $2.5 million Victorian Government investment to enhance fish habitat in the state's bays, inlets, lakes, rivers and creeks.
"These grants will deliver more fish habitat, which means more shelter and food for iconic recreational species like Murray cod and snapper," he said.
"So wherever you're wetting a line the Fish Habitat Improvement Fund is ensuring there are great fishing opportunities close to home for decades to come."
In Port Phillip near the Jawbone Marine Park off Williamstown, The Nature Conservancy will use $200,000 to restore golden kelp and micro algae forests - one of the bay's most important marine ecosystems. Their abundance has declined due to overgrazing by native sea urchins, with the project aiming to reduce urchin numbers before planting kelp back into heavily affected areas.
Across near Mornington, a $98,000 grant will enable OzFish Unlimited to create shellfish reefs approximately 300 metres into the bay to boost habitat, improve water quality and biodiversity while providing recreational fishers with a hotspot for snapper, calamari, and King George whiting.
In northern Victoria, North Central Catchment Management Authority will install several rock piles, armoured banks and cod nesting structures into the Gunbower Creek and National Channel between Torumbarry and Gunbower through a $200,000 grant.
Recreational fishing and fish populations are stronger in the lower reaches of the creek than the section upstream of Gunbower. Installing habitat into the faster-flowing upper section will benefit native species like Murray cod, golden perch and Murray crays.
Finally, in the state's south-west, Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority has been awarded $173,000 to increase instream habitat for populations of endangered western Victorian blackfish in Brucknell Creek and place structure into the Merri River to prepare for the future reintroduction of blackfish into its upper reaches.
The four projects were awarded grants through stream two of the program, for projects to restore, recover and rebuild fish populations with co-investment from project partners. Learn more at www.vfa.vic.gov.au/fishhabitatfund.