Golden perch thriving in the Goulburn

The new year has brought impressive results on the benefits of environmental flows on golden perch in the Goulburn River.

The new year has brought impressive results on the benefits of environmental flows on golden perch in the Goulburn River.

Monitoring and research in the river, undertaken by the Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) and funded by the Commonwealth Environmental Water Office and VEWH, detected significant golden perch breeding at four sites following an environmental release in November.

Data released by ARI prior to Christmas, established movement patterns of golden perch averaged around 20-30 kilometres downstream. Increased egg and larvae numbers were also found in the river, which provided greater evidence of spawning, as prior to the data being gathered, fish movements were generally associated with reproduction.
 
Wayne Koster, an aquatic ecologist from ARI, said that findings from the monitoring provided valuable information on the timing of environmental flows to create the best possible opportunities for golden perch to spawn.
 
"One of the most significant findings of the study is that migration and spawning of golden perch depends on increased flows in spring." Mr Koster said. "This information is vital for managing river flows more effectively in the future."

Further research and monitoring of golden perch in the Goulburn River will continue in autumn with electrofishing and netting surveys to be undertaken to identify whether spawning will lead to recruitment of juvenile fish.