Government of South Australia South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board March 2009 South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Recovery of Lake Eyre Basin fishes following drought: 2008/09 fish survey report Dale McNeil & David Schmarr Recovery of Lake Eyre Basin Fishes Following Drought: 2008/09 Fish Survey Report Dale McNeil and David Schmarr March 2009 SARDI Publication No. F2009/000407-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 411 Report to the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board DISCLAIMER The South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board, and its employees do not warrant or make any representation regarding the use, or results of use of the information contained herein as to its correctness, accuracy, reliability, currency or otherwise. The South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board and its employees expressly disclaim all liability or responsibility to any person using the information or advice. © South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board 2009 This publication can be cited as: McNeil, D.G and Schmarr, D.W. (2009) Recovery of Lake Eyre Basin Fishes Following Drought: 2008/09 Fish Survey Report. SARDI Publication No. F2009/000407-1. South Australian Research and Development Institute (Aquatic Sciences), Adelaide, 61pp. South Australian Research and Development Institute SARDI Aquatic Sciences 2 Hamra Avenue West Beach SA 5024 Telephone: (08) 8207 5400 Facsimile: (08) 8207 5406 Disclaimer © 2009 SARDI This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior permission from the authors. SARDI Publication No. F2009/000407-1 SARDI Research Report Series No. 411 Authors: D.G. McNeil and D.W Schmarr Reviewers: Ben Smith and Paul Jennings Approved by: Jason Nicol Signed: Date: 15 February 2010 Distribution: Public Circulation: General This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Commonwealth), no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission obtained from the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be directed to the General Manager, South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board Railway Station Building, PO Box 2227, Port Augusta, SA, 5700 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements..................................................................................................... 4 Executive summary..................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 7 Methods .................................................................................................................... 10 Sites....................................................................................................................... 10 Surveys.................................................................................................................. 11 Data Analyses ....................................................................................................... 12 Results ...................................................................................................................... 17 Neales River.......................................................................................................... 17 Hookey’s Waterhole .............................................................................................. 20 Stewart’s Waterhole .............................................................................................. 22 South Stewart’s Waterhole.................................................................................... 24 Algebuckina Waterhole.......................................................................................... 27 Peake Creek.......................................................................................................... 30 Diamantina/Warburton System.............................................................................. 35 Pandie Pandie ....................................................................................................... 36 Kalamurina ............................................................................................................ 38 Cooper Creek ........................................................................................................ 41 Cullyamurra ........................................................................................................... 42 Innamincka Causeway .......................................................................................... 45 Discussion................................................................................................................. 48 River Neales Catchment........................................................................................ 48 Diamantina/Warburton System.............................................................................. 51 Cooper Creek ........................................................................................................ 53 Conclusions........................................................................................................... 55 Recommendations for Research and Management .............................................. 56 Appendix 1 ................................................................................................................ 60 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank Henry Mancini from the South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resource Management Board (SAALNRMB) for supporting this project and managing its progress for the Board. Dean Hartwell provided significant technical support and assisted with the field collection during May 2009. Qifeng Ye provided overall management of staff for SARDI. Justin Costelloe from Melbourne University kindly provided access to hydrological data. The authors would like to thank the landholders who generously provided field teams with access to field sites and assisted with the selection of sites, without their co-operation, this work would not be possible. In particular we would like to thank the owners, managers and staff from Allandale, Peake, Cowarie, Pandie Pandie, and Innamincka Stations. The work at Kalamurina Station was possible thanks to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and their staff, in particular Tess and Mark. This work was carried out with the permission of the AWC. All work conducted in National or State reserves was covered under DEH Permit No. Y25128-4. 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The current survey was initiated by the South Australian Arid Lands NRM Board (SAALNRMB) to assess the recovery of native fish populations from drought and identify key management and research requirements for protecting and enhancing these communities. Fish surveys were conducted in December 2008 and May 2009 across the three primary catchments in the South Australian section of the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB); the Neales River (including Peake Creek), the Warburton/Diamantina and Cooper Creek. Monitoring was based on the monitoring strategy outlined under the Lake Eyre Basin Rivers Assessment (LEBRA) program and included sites used for the 2007/08 pilot monitoring under that program. Pilot monitoring in 2007/08 identified extreme drought conditions across the SA section of the LEB, with many fish species restricted to very few, or single refuge waterholes within each catchment. Following the resumption of small, within channel flows during 2008, some species were able to recolonise the Neales catchment, whilst the majority of fishes continued to be confined to refuge water holes. Re- connectivity did not occur in the Warburton/Diamantina or Cooper Creek catchments and fishes remained confined to refuge waterholes. Some of these refugia contained very harsh water quality levels including salinities above sea-water and possessed accordingly few highly tolerant species. The effect of drought in the LEB therefore, was found to have left native fish populations in very high risk of catchment wide extinctions due to the reliance on very few harsh refuge habitats. If fish were unable to recolonise catchments successfully following subsequent periods of flow, then the SA LEB fish population may require significant and immediate management intervention. In December 2008, a survey was conducted across the Neales River catchment, but heavy storms prevented access to sites on the Diamantina/Warburton and Cooper Creek. The Neales survey revealed that a second season of hydrological re- connectivity had failed to improve the distribution of native fishes across the catchment. As such, all but two out of seven native species (spangled perch and bony herring) remained at very high risk of drought related, localised extinction. With further rainfalls in the 2008/09 wet season, both the Neales and Warburton/Diamantina enjoying high levels of flow for extended periods for the first time since the onset of the drought. Subsequent re-sampling in May 2009 revealed 5 that this re-connectivity was adequate for providing re-colonisation for a wide range of species that were previously confined to high risk refuge pools. In the Neales, golden perch and desert rainbow fish and to a lesser degree Lake Eyre hardy head, were able to recolonise upstream into