Poster Presentation Australian Society for Limnology Congress 2013

Engineered Options for Improving Fish Habitat (#201)

Lisa Evans 1 , Matthew Beitzel 1 , Andrew P Brooks 2 , Mark Jekabsons 1
  1. Conservation Research, ACT Government, CANBERRA, ACT, Australia
  2. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane

Rehabilitation of fish habitat in degraded river reaches is now a widespread activity in Australia. Decisions about the correct approach to take can be difficult because of site constraints and the variety of methods that can be employed. Significant river reaches in the ACT are severely degraded, generally from catchment clearing and urban development. Some of these river reaches are critical to the ongoing survival of native fish species because they provide passage between habitat that is important for refuge and breeding. Two different habitat improvement approaches have recently been trialled in the ACT, being: Engineered Log Jams (ELJs) and concrete structural habitat (dubbed Cod Caves). These two habitat improvement structures were used in different locations and selected to meet locally specific requirements. This poster outlines why these different techniques were used and what were the costs and benefits of using these different approaches.