The Murray River is well on the way to being 'filled to the bream' after the successful delivery of a new aquaculture project between the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, Murdoch University and John Tonkin College.
More than 2000 juvenile black bream were released into the Murray River in December 2019 as part of the Stock Enhancement of Black Bream in the Murray River project.
Last year, the Mandurah Mail started shining a spotlight on the health of the rivers in the Peel region, which continues to decline.
Previous assessments from the 1990s have revealed, of more than 4000 kilometres of waterways throughout the Swan Coastal Plain, only about 1 per cent is in "near pristine condition".
In an effort to uncover why local waterways are not in the condition they should be, the Mandurah Mail will be interviewing environmental experts to gauge the health of local rivers and report on the research being conducted and initiatives in place to help restore them.
After speaking with leaders from the Peel-Harvey Catchment Council (PHCC), who sounded grave concerns about the condition of Mandurah's waterways, the series continues with an update on an aquaculture project designed to help restore the health of the Murray River.
The PHCC, Murdoch University and John Tonkin College have partnered up to give the Murray River black bream population a helping hand, after new research found the numbers of fish were falling.
Black bream in the Peel-Harvey Estuary are a key recreational fish species for the Mandurah community, prompting a plan to be hatched to support their ongoing survival.
Black bream complete their entire life cycle in the estuary in which they were born, so when a stock becomes depleted due to the decline in the condition of the waterways, it cannot be naturally replenished.
Funded by the state government's Royalties for Regions program, the project was led by Murdoch University researchers and recreational anglers, Dr Alan Cottingham and Dr Ben Roennfeldt.
A number of wild black bream broodstock were collected from the Murray River in winter and bred at Murdoch University. They then spawned successfully in early spring.
After a few weeks, the juvenile bream, which were between one and two millimetres long, were transported to John Tonkin College.
They were raised by eager science students, who had already been practicing their skills in live food production, fish care and culture system maintenance, with support from local aquaculture specialist Andrew McNaughton.
Read more:
- Spotlight on river health: Condition of Mandurah's waterways continue to decline
- 'Breaming' with opportunities: Aquaculture program hopes to bring new life to Murray River
- Spotlight on river health: Rescuing the Serpentine River with an in-depth Action Plan
- River health assessments get underway as part of Restoring the Serpentine River project
Students, staff and project partners were joined by representatives from Recfishwest, the Peel Regional Development Commission, Alcoa and the Nature Conservancy, as well as Mandurah MP David Templeman and Professor Lyn Beazley, at John Tonkin College ahead of the bream release last year.
Students led a tour of their aquaculture facility and shared their knowledge with guests before travelling to the Murray River to release the bream not far from where their parents were captured.
Dr Roennfeldt said the project aimed to protect the fish from any environmental threats in their early life stages to enhance their stocks.
"It was rewarding to see the excitement, practical skills gained and knowledge growth in the students," he said.
"It was a real team effort to achieve what we did and a well-deserved celebration at the fish release."
Dr Cottingham said the project was a "big success".
"This project is playing a vital role in enhancing the stock of black bream in the Peel-Harvey Estuary, which hosts one of the most important recreational black bream fisheries in the state," he said.
"Initiatives such as these are becoming increasingly important as climate change and other anthropogenic impacts have deleterious effects on these systems.
"With budding conservation-aquaculture experts and ecologists at John Tonkin College, we predict great things in 2020 and beyond for Mandurah's black bream fishery."
PHCC Chair Caroline Knight said the organisation were proud to be involved in the project.
"As well as giving black bream stocks a helping hand we are also producing a great learning opportunity for the next generation of environmental scientists," she said.
During the project, the bream were also biologically tagged by marking their internal ear stones with an index dye and tissue samples obtained to enable a population genetics study.
The results will be used to inform and influence future breeding programs.
The team behind the bream stock enhancement project will repeat the process again in 2020 and hope to release 5000 juvenile black bream into the Murray River this year.
