NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

Aquatic habitat
rehabilitation

Aquatic habitat rehabilitation initiatives encompass a range of
projects targeted at protecting and enhancing fish habitat,
along with creating improved environmental conditions to build fish
populations naturally.

PRIORITY AREA SNAPSHOT

$850,000

made available for on-ground rehabilitation activities to improve fish habitat

14,300 trees

Planted along NSW riverbanks to provide shade, stable water temperatures, insect fall and eventually snags for fish

25 fishways

Commonwealth and NSW government funding for 25 priority fishways totalling more than $60 million

Habitat Action Grants

Habitat Action Grants provide funding to a range of stakeholders (including angling clubs, individuals, community groups, local councils and organisations) to undertake on–ground fish habitat rehabilitation initiatives that support fish populations and, in turn, improve recreational fishing.

Key achievements:

  • $850,000 made available to fishing clubs, community groups, individuals, local councils and natural resource management groups in freshwater and saltwater environments to conduct practical on-ground rehabilitation activities to improve fish habitat
  • a range of on-ground activities undertaken, including management of stock access to waterways, revegetating areas with native plants, erosion control, reintroduction of woody habitat into rivers and estuaries, weed control and wetland rehabilitation.

Flagship Fish Habitat Rehabilitation Grant program

The Flagship Fish Habitat Rehabilitation Grant program began in 2017 and supports projects that improve fish habitat and recreational fishing opportunities within the coastal catchments of NSW. The program, which builds on Habitat Action Grants, seeks to tackle much larger scale projects that need more funding assistance.

Key achievements:

  • Tweed Shire Council developed a Tweed River estuary erosion management plan to provide a proactive (rather than reactive) approach to erosion management through robust engineering solutions that maintain and enhance fish habitat within the estuary.
  • Nambucca Valley Landcare implemented riparian restoration activities in the Nambucca River and South Creek at Bowraville, including the design and construction of erosion control works to manage riverbed and bank erosion.
  • North Coast Local Land Services undertook Clybucca Wetland on-ground restoration activities to control acid sulfate runoff as recommended during Stage 1 of the project (also funded by this program) and initiated investigations into nearby Swanpool Wetlands.

Landcare NSW & OzFish Unlimited community partnership driving fish habitat action

OzFish Unlimited and Landcare NSW have combined forces to work on activities that restore locally important waterways and fish habitat across inland and coastal NSW. The network of skilled volunteers will continue the work well into the future.

Key achievements:

  • development of strong working partnerships between Landcare NSW and OzFish in 12 catchments with the ability to take the lead on identifying, planning and delivering fish habitat projects on their local rivers
  • close to $1 million of habitat restoration work achieved by the partnership in the first 12 months, with 16 community driven, on-ground fish habitat restoration projects established
  • 14,300 more trees planted along NSW riverbanks to provide shade, stable water temperatures, insect fall and eventually snags for fish; 60 more snags installed in rivers to provide instant homes, shelter and food for fish; along with 30 kilometres of riverbank weeded, cleaned up and restored.

Fish Passage

DPI Fisheries is implementing Phase 1 (2020–25) of the NSW Fish Passage Strategy, a coordinated 20-year plan to restore unimpeded fish passage to 165 high priority weirs, which will significantly improve native fish access to 8,885 kilometres of mainstem rivers and key off-channel habitats below all major storage dams in the state, leading to significant improvements in native fish populations and recreational fishing opportunities.

Key achievements:

  • fish passage restored to three priority sites improving native fish access to nearly 300 kilometres of river
  • Commonwealth and NSW government funding committed to 25 priority fishways totalling more than $60 million
  • funding pathways explored for the delivery of an extra 18 priority fishways by 2025.

Aquatic habitat protection and fish conservation

This program provides essential fish conservation management services for the Greater Murray (Murray, Lower Darling and Murrumbidgee catchments) and Southern (eastern draining catchments from Wollongong to Victoria) regions in NSW to enhance the protection of key fish habitats and increase recreational fisher involvement in fish habitat protection and management. A key responsibility of this program is to assess development proposals with potential impacts on fish habitat, and provide development conditions that ensure “no net loss” of fish habitats.

2020-21 Annual Report

Income and expenditure from the Trusts are subject to an annual audit and regular announcements are made about licence fee expenditure. DPI also carries out periodic surveys of recreational fishing licence holders to ensure that the broad funding priorities are in line with angler expectations.

Download the 2020-21 Annual Report

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www.dpi.nsw.gov.au