Amazing journey of a yellowbelly

Thirty yellowbelly (golden perch) were tagged with acoustic transmitters and released into Gunbower Forest (Vic) as part of the North Central Catchment Management Authority’s (CMA) 2014/15 fish monitoring program and one has just logged an epic journey.

Project officer Kathryn Stanislawski explains: "One of the Yellowbelly tagged in Gunbower has turned up in Chalka Creek at Hattah Lakes! This fish was detected leaving the forest through Shillinglaws Regulator in early November, travelling over 300 kilometres in six days to reach the Hattah Lakes. Based on the time recorded on the two loggers, we calculated that the fish was moving downstream at 3.1km/h.

"November is the common time for fish movement. They often travel large distances in the search for a food source and suitable habitat," she added.

A network of data loggers was deployed throughout the waterways and wetlands of Gunbower Forest during last year’s large environmental watering event. The tagged fish are scanned, just like an item in the supermarket, when they swim past a logger.

Loggers were placed at key entrance and exit pathways throughout Gunbower Forest to detect fish movement.

Information from the loggers is compared against information on flow rates and changes in water level.

"The results of the fish tagging project will give us an insight into how Golden perch move through the forest during an environmental watering event. This will help us to fine tune our future environmental watering operations to ensure we maximize the benefits for native fish."

"We were extremely pleased to see that the timing of this fish’s exit at Shillinglaws Regulator (connects Yarran Creek to the Murray River) coincides with the implementation of our fish exit strategy, which is deliberately designed to cue fish to exit the floodplain." said Stanislawski.

The tags used in the fish will send an acoustic signal for up to three years, and the loggers will continue to record fish movements. It is believed this Yellowbelly journey is the longest and fastest ever logged by a native fish.