Kyogle Weir and Fishway Project

The Kyogle Weir and Fishway Project was a key component of the Kyogle Water Supply Augmentation and Flood Mitigation Works project. The fishway cost $1.37 million to construct and was a collaborative effort over a 10-year period between the Kyogle Council, DPIRD Fisheries, DPIE Water, NSW Public Works, Restart NSW, NSW Recreational Fishing Trust, NSW Environmental Trust and MJ Smith Ground Preparation.

The original Kyogle Weir was a 3 m high drop board weir that limited fish migration to the entire upper Richmond River catchment for nearly all river flows and was one of the highest priority barriers to fish passage in coastal NSW. The newly constructed fishway is a full width precast (prefabricated) rock ramp fishway, with an innovative "V" shape that readily passes debris and allows native fish to ascend the weir via 23 incremental rises of 100 mm over a 50 m distance.

Constructed in 2017, this fishway now allows free access to over 300 km of the upper Richmond River for the first time in decades. This site is important for 26 locally occurring native fish species including the Australian Bass and the Federally Endangered Eastern Freshwater Cod.

Funding from the Marine Estate Management Strategy is allowing for monitoring of fish movement at and around Kyogle fishway. Sampling has shown 12 species of fish successfully moving up through the fishway including Australian Bass, Freshwater Herring, Freshwater Mullet, Rainbowfish and Gudgeon spp.