National Resource Management funds help to protect fish habitat across State

Thu 13 May, 2010

Fish and fish ecosystems in the Kimberley and South-West will be further protected as a result of Natural Resource Management (NRM) funding.

Fisheries Minister Norman Moore said three of the 51 NRM grants announced by Agriculture and Food; and Forestry Minister Terry Redman today would contribute about $160,000 to initiatives designed to protect fish and their habitats.

“The single biggest grant, $110,000, will go to the Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research at Murdoch University and help protect one of WA’s endangered fish species - the freshwater sawfish,” Mr Moore said.

“The freshwater sawfish of the Fitzroy River in the Kimberley is already the subject of strong conservation efforts.

“However, this grant will enable tagging work to continue and also help State Government staff (Yiriman Rangers) and the local community to expand the project upstream and to record traditional language stories on sawfish.”

The Minister said the other grants of $34,459 and $18,700 would fund studies of fish species’ diversity and distribution in the Helena River and chart the impact of and continue elimination programs for feral fish in the Serpentine River.

“Improving our knowledge about native fish and ensuring we maximise our efforts to control and eliminate feral fish is extremely important work,” Mr Moore said.

“For example, the Serpentine work will identify the impact of feral fish on native mussel and fish populations and will also develop a plan to prevent cattle access to the river, which can affect the health of the ecosystem by damaging riverbanks.”

Anyone wanting further information about the programs should contact the Department of Fisheries on 9482 7333.

Minister's office - 9422 3000

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Tony Halliday's picture

Posts: 2500

Date Joined: 14/06/07

Good news that other smaller

Thu, 2010-05-13 09:28

Good news that other smaller species and freshwater fish are getting some funding and not everything tossed at the crays & prawns as per usual.
Now to get them to tax land developers who use high nitrate content fertiliser in the metro Swan basin catchment & ground water areas. I believe we should be seeing at least $200 per new lot developed put back into protecting our metro rivers. And with 40,000 new lots in the pipeline, that would be $8m per year to help save the four major rivers we have that are close to dead in places!
JMO
Tony

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Tony Halliday: ~Meals on Reels ~

 It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it

"It is always in season for old men to learn." Aeschylus (525-456 BC)

"In a mad world only the mad are sane." Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)