Ovens River, Victoria | North East Catchment Management Authority | $3,100,000
$800,000 CEWH contribution | $2,500,000 partner contribution
Located near the regional town of Wangaratta in north-east Victoria, Tea Gardens Weir was one of the last remaining barriers to native fish movement in the Ovens River catchment. This area is part of a vital aquatic corridor that connects the Murray River with over 270 km of upstream habitat.
The Tea Gardens Fishway Project has improved fish passage into the Ovens River and its tributaries by installing a rock-ramp fishway at the weir. This enables upstream migration from the Murray River, supporting threatened species such as silver perch, trout cod, Macquarie perch and Murray cod.
The project complements 2 decades of habitat restoration in the region and contributes to broader native fish recovery efforts. Monitoring confirms the fishway is functioning as intended, with over 300 fish recorded using the structure and 125 tagged for movement tracking.
The project was co-funded with the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, and managed by the North East Catchment Management Authority.
Transcript
Helen Wilson, North East Catchment Management Authority: We're at Tea Garden Weir rock ramp fishway, near Everton in North East Victoria.
Marcus Finn, CEWH: The Tea Gardens fishway is a $2.5 million fishway. So basically what it did was removed an existing weir and replaced it with a rock ramp fishway right across the river.
Anthony Wilson, CEWH: So what we used to do, we used to deliver water out of Lake Buffalo to get it down to the Murray through the Ovens system. But what we found that fish used to come up here to Tea Garden, and then they would butt their head against the wall before it was removed.
So the partnership that we undertook with the North East CMA and Goulburn Murray Water was really important because we had co-invested in the removal of the structure. And what that allowed then was for native fish - when we release water from Lake Buffalo - to be able to move from the Murray system all the way up to the Buffalo and connect that system, which is really, really important for the Ovens system and native fish in Victoria and New South Wales.
Katie Warner, North East Catchment Management Authority: The Ovens River, as an effectively unregulated river in the Murray-Darling Basin is incredibly important. So being able to remove the barrier to fish passage on the Ovens River was not only a priority for the North East Catchment, but also for the Murray-Darling Basin.
Marcus Finn, CWEH: The Tea Gardens Fishway - the main objective here is to improve the passage of native fish up and down the Ovens River. This project will actually open up an additional 270km of river to native fish.
Dr Ivor Stuart, Charles Stuart University: For this fishway it was super important. So we used very large rocks to withstand the Ovens River and all the energetics of this magnificent river.
Helen Wilson, North East Catchment Management Authority: So we have a greater ability for fish to escape some of the poor water quality events, and to breed and migrate in areas where there's suitable fish habitat.
Dr Ivor Stuart Charles Stuart University: What we identified was the need for this fishway to pass to local native fish species, small and large. So for me, what I was looking for was rocks placed to create a diversity of pathways for fish to ascend, small and large, so that each ridge steps down about 100 mls to the next. It controls water velocity and allows fish to rest in each pool.
Anthony Wilson, CEWH: It was a high priority in Victoria. It was one of the major barriers for fish movement.
Peter Clydesdale, Goulburn Murray Water: And it's provided a great result in the sense that there's no longer any operational intervention required by Goulburn Murray Water with the design of the fish ladder. Previously, Goulburn Murray Water operational staff would actually have to intervene at the start and finish of each irrigation season.
Dr Matt Jones, Arthur Rylah Institute: Fish have got passage now from the Murray right through to Porepunkah area. And that's really good for maintaining the native fish population.
Marcus Finn, CEWH: Some of our native fish like yellowbelly for example, or golden perch as people call them - they'll actually travel up a river on spring flows to spawn. Their eggs actually float, they're buoyant, they float down the river, and then those larvae and juveniles will actually redistribute around the river. So it can help with spawning, can help them find better habitat when things might be going bad in some areas and move around and help themselves that way. It also helps them find food resources.
Dr Matt Jones, Arthur Rylah Institute: To assess a fishway we net the entrance and the exit, and we compare the fish assemblage and size classes to one another. Today we've found a range of species - small, medium and large bodied, both at the entrance and at the exit. And we've also found 3 endangered species: Murray cod, Trout Cod and Macquarie Perch.
Helen Wilson, North East Catchment Management Authority: This fish passage and other works is vital to the long term viability of that threatened species.
Dr Matt Jones, Arthur Rylah Institute: So far, we've recorded carp gudgeon, flatheaded gudgeon, Riffle galaxias and Australian smelt. The Macquarie perch - there's quite a few here in the area and we're finding that they're passing through the fishway regularly, ensuring that connectivity is being restored now with this fishway. And a lot of our migratory fish can now move from the lower end of the Ovens to the upper end, which is important for maintaining the healthy population structure.
Unknown: So it is 36.
Anthony Wilson, CEWH: It's been such an important step forward to co-invest with the Commonwealth and the States in order to get it removed, in order to improve the environmental outcome of the Ovens River and to deliver environmental water through the Ovens system.
Peter Clydesdale, Goulburn Murray Water: Not only a great win for the fish - a great win for the irrigators and a great win for Goulburn Murray Water.
Dr Matt Jones, Arthur Rylah Institute: I think it's just seeing the range of native fish present and the fact that we're getting endangered fish. It's a beautiful river, it's a beautiful part of Victoria and it's really worth looking after.
Helen Wilson, North East Catchment Management Authority: The Ovens River is really important to community, landholders, First Nations people. People visiting here from all over come to enjoy the beauty of the Ovens River.
Katie Warner, North East Catchment Management Authority: Partnerships are incredibly important when you're delivering a project of this complexity. The North East Catchment Management Authority were really excited to partner with a range of agencies, but also the private landholder and our First Nations people to deliver this project.
Marcus Finn, CEWH: We know we do our best when we partner up with regional and local institutions like the North East Catchment Management Authority.
Helen Wilson, North East Catchment Management Authority: We had such a good partnership with everyone involved and it's really exciting to see it, and working so well. And the fish are moving through this fishway.
