Managing Fish Translocation & Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Statement, recommendations and supporting papers Workshop held in Canberra 25-26 September 2002 Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin workshop held in Canberra, 25-26 September 2002: Statement, recommendations and supporting papers. Phillips, Bill (Compiler), February 2003 © WWF Australia 2003. All Rights Reserved. For in depth information on all our work, go on-line at www.wwf.org.au or call our toll free number 1800 032 551. Head Office WWF Australia GPO Box 528 Sydney NSW Australia Tel: +612-9281-5515 Fax: +612-9281-1060 [email protected] WWF Australia Report; 03/02 ISBN 1-875941-42-8 Compiled by Bill Phillips, MainStream Environmental Consulting designed by Printed and bound by Union Offset Printers For copies of this report or a full list of WWF Australia publications on a wide range of conservation issues, please contact us on [email protected] or call (02) 9281 5515. Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Workshop held in Canberra 25-26 September 2002 Statement, recommendations and supporting papers Acknowledgements The Managing fish translocation and stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin workshop would not have been possible without the financial support of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, NSW Fisheries and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, and WWF Australia and the Inland Rivers Network (IRN) gratefully acknowledges this support. Many thanks to those who assisted in the organisation of the workshop, particularly Bernadette O’Leary, Bill Phillips, Mark Lintermans, John Harris, Alex McNee, Jim Barrett and Greg Williams. Bill Phillips also skillfully facilitated the workshop, collated these proceedings, and together with Mark Lintermans, who acted as workshop rapporteur, ensured that the outcomes of the workshop were accurately reflected – thanks Bill and Mark. Thanks also to those who presented papers at the workshop, and to all participants, who contributed towards making the workshop an effective and valuable exercise. Marie Waschka WWF Australia Table of Contents Acknowledgements 1. Statement and recommendations Page 4 2. Welcome and introductory statements Page 9 2.1 Welcomes Matilda House, Ngunnawal People; Welcome to Country Bernadette O’Leary, WWF Australia; Welcome to participants from the host organisations Page 9 2.2 Introduction and scene setting Kevin Goss, General Manager, Natural Resources, Murray-Darling Basin Commission Page 9 3. Key note address Page 11 Fish stocking and translocation in the Murray-Darling Basin: Issues, Benefits and Problems; Dr John Harris, Senior Ecologist, Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology 4. Community stakeholder perspectives Page 28 4.1 Recreational fishing; Ross Monash, RecFish Australia Page 28 4.2 Central Region Aboriginal Land Council; Bill Phillips, Chairperson Page 31 4.3 Conservation; Dr Paul Sinclair, Director, Healthy Rivers Campaign, Environment Victoria Page 31 4.4 Industry; Bruce Sambell, President, Aquaculture Association of Queensland, Managing Director, AusyFish Page 34 5. Government overviews and perspectives Page 38 5.1 National; Eva-Maria Bernoth, Manager, Aquatic Animal Health, Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry – Australia Page 38 5.2 Australian Capital Territory; Mark Lintermans, Environment ACT Page 47 5.3 New South Wales; see paper 6.3 Management of fish stocking in New South Wales, Dr Andrew Sanger, Regional Manager, Western region, NSW Department of Fisheries, and Bill Talbot, Principal Manager, Threatened Species, NSW Department of Fisheries Page 51 5.4 Queensland; Peter Jackson, Principal Fisheries Scientist, Queensland Fisheries Service Page 51 5.5 South Australia; Jon Presser, Principal Fisheries Manager, Department of Primary Industries and Resources Page 54 5.6 Victoria; Tarmo A. Raadik, Freshwater Ecology Research, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Co-operative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Page 55 6. Other key note papers Page 59 6.1 Conservation genetics of Murray-Darling Basin fish; silver perch, Murray cod and trout cod; Andrew A. Bearlin, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria, and Daniela Tikel, Department of Primary Industries, Queensland Page 59 Page 2 Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Page 3 6.2 Development of a Riverina-Murray Aquaculture Strategy: ensuring a balance between fish production and conservation; Graeme Bowley, Aquaculture Planning Officer, NSW Department of Fisheries Page 83 6.3 Management of fish stocking in New South Wales; Dr Andrew Sanger, Regional Manager, Western region, NSW Department of Fisheries, and Bill Talbot, Principal Manager, Threatened Species, NSW Department of Fisheries Page 88 6.4 Fish stocking procedures and outcomes for Victorian recreational fisheries; Greg Hayes*, Recreational Fisheries Manager, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria. (*Paper presented on the day by Wayne Fulton, Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Victoria) Page 93 7. Poster papers Page 96 7.1 The use of local translocations and re-introductions in the conservation management of threatened freshwater fish; Mark Lintermans, Wildlife Research & Monitoring, Environment ACT Page 96 7.2 Trends in fish hatchery practices within New South Wales: What do they tell us about the maintenance of genetic diversity in fish stocking programs ? Anthony S. Moore and Peter R. Baverstock, Centre for Animal Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157 Lismore, NSW 2480, Email:[email protected] [Abstract only] Page 105 8. List of participants Page 106 Page 2 Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin Page 3 1.Statement and recommendations Summary conclusions 1. We, the participants of the Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking in the Murray-Darling Basin workshop held in Canberra on 25-26 September 2002, call upon the Commonwealth and relevant State and Territory Governments, recreational fishing, hatchery and aquaculture interests and other stakeholders within the Murray-Darling Basin to implement the recommendations presented below and address the many issues and opportunities in current fish translocation and stocking practices. 2. The workshop participants acknowledge that translocation and stocking activities are a valuable management action for certain purposes, but that there are risks with conducting such activities. We consider that any stocking and translocation action must be implemented in an ecologically sustainable way. 3. It is also noted that the governments of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria have fish conservation and management responsibilities outside the Murray-Darling Basin, and that for these jurisdictions the management of translocation and stocking practices requires consistent state-wide policies. Harmonising these approaches among the Basin States, and also with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), presents a significant challenge. 4. The workshop participants acknowledge that while significant progress has been made to address the issues of translocation and stocking within the States and the ACT, current management is generally uncoordinated between these jurisdictions. This management is, in many instances, inadequately resourced and suffers from lack of scientific knowledge and suitable community education and consultation processes. 5. The workshop notes that at present the draft Native Fish Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin 2002-2012 is available for public comment, and urges that the recommendations provided below be reviewed in finalising the draft and implementing the strategy. 6. The workshop welcomes the acknowledgement in the draft Native Fish Strategy of the need for integrated approaches in restoring native fish populations, and concludes that the proposed restorative actions relating to translocation and stocking need to be fully and effectively coordinated. The recommendations below should be viewed as contributing to these integrated efforts to see native fish populations recover across the Basin. 7. It is further concluded that fish translocation and stocking activities have ecological, commercial, cultural and recreational dimensions and that coordinating these efforts across the Basin will therefore need a balance of ecological, economic and social outcomes and expectations. This will require careful consultations with stakeholders, especially indigenous communities, across the Basin. 8. The workshop participants call upon all Basin jurisdictions, in accordance with the national strategies for ecologically sustainable development (ESD) and biodiversity conservation, to urgently review their policy, legal and administrative frameworks relating to fish translocation and stocking practices to ensure that the precautionary principle is factored into relevant decision making. 9. It is a concern that too few resources are currently available to provide for the necessary best-practice development, community consultation, compliance monitoring, research and education. These needs are summarised in the recommendations below. The Murray-Darling Basin States, the ACT and the Commonwealth Governments are requested to review this untenable situation as a matter of high priority. Page 4 Managing Fish Translocation and Stocking