Freshwater fish communities of the Hunter, Manning, Karuah and Macquarie-Tuggerah catchments: a 2004 status report Timothy Howell Bob Creese Industry & Investment NSW Port Stephens Fisheries Institute Private Bag 1, Nelson Bay NSW, 2315 Australia Hunter - Central Rivers CMA Project No. CRH0012 August 2010 Industry & Investment NSW Fisheries Final Report Series No. 126 ISSN 1837-2112 Freshwater fish communities of the Hunter, Manning, Karuah and Macquarie-Tuggerah catchments: a 2004 status report August 2010 Authors: Timothy D. Howell and Robert G. Creese Published By: Industry & Investment NSW (now incorporating NSW Fisheries) Postal Address: Cronulla Fisheries Research Centre of Excellence, PO Box 21, Cronulla, NSW Internet: www.industry.nsw.gov.au © Industry & Investment NSW This work is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this reproduction may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owners. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. DISCLAIMER The publishers do not warrant that the information in this report is free from errors or omissions. The publishers do not accept any form of liability, be it contractual, tortuous or otherwise, for the contents of this report for any consequences arising from its use or any reliance placed on it. The information, opinions and advice contained in this report may not relate to, or be relevant to, a reader’s particular circumstance. Cover photos: Timothy Howell. Main photo: Williams River near Salisbury. Fish photos (clockwise): eel-tailed catfish, empire gudgeon, Australian bass, Cox’s gudgeon, common galaxias, long-finned eel, gambusia, goldfish, common carp, bullrout. ISSN 1837-2112 Note: Prior to July 2004, this report series was published by NSW Fisheries as the ‘NSW Fisheries Final Report Series’ with ISSN number 1440-3544. Then, following the formation of the NSW Department of Primary Industries the report series was published as the ‘NSW Department of Primary Industries – Fisheries Final Report Series’ with ISSN number 1449-9967. The report series is now published by Industry & Investment NSW as the ‘Industry & Investment NSW – Fisheries Final Report Series’ with ISSN number 1837-2112. Contents i TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................................I LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................................................... 3 LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................................VI NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY .............................................................................................................. VII 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................. 12 2. SITE SELECTION, SAMPLING PROTOCOL AND DATA MANAGEMENT ........................... 17 2.1. Site selection................................................................................................................................ 17 2.2. Sampling procedure .................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.1. Sampling sites............................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.2. Habitat assessment........................................................................................................................ 24 2.3. Data entry and quality assurance................................................................................................24 3. STATUS OF FISH COMMUNITIES OF THE HUNTER, MANNING, KARUAH AND MACQUARIE-TUGGERAH CATCHMENTS IN 2004................................................................... 25 3.1. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 25 3.2. Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 25 3.2.1. Site selection and sampling procedures ........................................................................................ 25 3.2.2. Data analysis................................................................................................................................. 26 3.3. Results ....................................................................................................................................... 27 3.3.1. Hunter and Central Rivers catchments.......................................................................................... 27 3.3.1.1. Catch data ..................................................................................................... 27 3.3.1.2. Spatial structure of fish communities within the Hunter and Central Rivers catchments ....................................................................................................................... 27 3.3.1.3. Analysis of altitude zones............................................................................... 31 3.3.2. 2004 benchmark of fish communities in individual catchments ................................................... 36 3.3.2.1. Fish communities of the Hunter catchment.................................................... 36 3.3.2.2. Fish communities of the Manning catchment................................................. 42 3.3.2.3. Fish communities of the Karuah catchment................................................... 48 3.3.2.4. Fish communities of the Macquarie-Tuggerah catchment............................. 53 4. STATUS OF INDIVIDUAL SPECIES OF THE HUNTER, MANNING, KARUAH AND MACQUARIE-TUGGERAH CATCHMENTS IN 2004................................................................... 56 4.1. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 56 4.2. Methods ....................................................................................................................................... 56 4.3. Results and discussion................................................................................................................. 56 4.3.1. Hunter catchment.......................................................................................................................... 56 4.3.2. Manning catchment ...................................................................................................................... 59 4.3.3. Karuah catchment ......................................................................................................................... 63 4.3.4. Macquarie-Tuggerah catchment ................................................................................................... 65 5. POTENTIALLY THREATENED FISH SPECIES........................................................................... 67 5.1. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 67 5.2. Fish species at risk ...................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.1. Australian grayling ....................................................................................................................... 67 5.2.2. Darling River hardyhead............................................................................................................... 68 5.2.3. Western carp gudgeon .................................................................................................................. 68 5.2.4. Mountain galaxias......................................................................................................................... 69 5.2.5. Climbing galaxias......................................................................................................................... 69 5.2.6. Common jollytail.......................................................................................................................... 70 5.2.7. Short-finned eel ............................................................................................................................ 71 6. COMPARISONS WITH PREVIOUS FISH SAMPLING ................................................................ 72 6.1. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 72 6.2. Results and discussion................................................................................................................. 72 Freshwater fish communities of the Hunter Howell and Creese ii Contents 6.2.1. Hunter catchment..........................................................................................................................72 6.2.2. Manning catchment.......................................................................................................................74 6.2.3. Karuah catchment .........................................................................................................................75