Right of passage for Little River fish

Fish in the Little River in the State’s Central West will soon find moving up and down stream easier after remediation work on a road-crossing to make it more fish-friendly in the coming months.

NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) Senior Conservation Manager, Sam Davis, said the project will remove a significant barrier to fish migration and link important areas of fish habitat.

“A partnership between NSW DPI, Cabonne Shire Council and Central West Catchment Management Authority (CMA) will see a low level causeway replaced with a box culvert across the river between Dubbo and Parkes,” Ms Davis said.

“Native fish have very poor jumping skills so a box culvert works by allowing them to travel under the road instead of trying to go over it.

“Many fish spend much of their life in one spot, but need to migrate to find a mate and suitable places to breed.

“Barriers to fish passage, such as poorly designed road crossings, have a major impact on the ability of fish to migrate and breed and are one of the main factors contributing to the decline of native fish.

“We estimate that there are over 10,000 man-made obstructions in NSW waterways and a fall of just 10 centimetres is enough to prevent some species of native fish from migrating.”

Work on the fish passage will start in May and will cause no disruption to traffic as the new crossing will be constructed adjacent to the existing one before it is removed.

Ms Davis said that the Little River was chosen as it contains areas of important fish habitat that require protecting due to the native fish species they support.

“Through NSW DPI road-crossing assessments, the Central West CMA targets specific barriers as funding becomes available,” Ms Davis said.

“The Little River, which rises to the east of Goobang National Park between Dubbo and Parkes and runs into the Macquarie River, was identified as a priority.

“This is the third barrier to be remediated in the Little River and once complete 90 kilometres of the waterway will be open for fish to migrate unimpeded.”

For information on barriers to fish passage visit www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au.

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