Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106:body:0:p31
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 82754–85486

of the catchment, Macquarie perch declined in abundance between in the 1930s and by the end of the World War II the species was rare in the catchment above the Larsens Creek confluence (before Lake Dartmouth was made) and by the 1950s had become scarce throughout the catchment and until the 1970s had contracted to the area of the Dart Creek/River confluence (also now swamped by Lake Dartmouth) and had become rare in many parts of the catchment (Trueman 2011). Soon after Lake Dartmouth was constructed and flooded in the 1970s, the population of Macquarie perch initially flourished becoming reasonably abundant and supporting a recreational fishery (Hunt et al., 2011; Trueman 2011). Below the Lake Dartmouth dam wall, Macquarie perch disappeared in the Mitta Mitta River within twelve years of its completion in 1979 (Koehn et al., 1995; Lugg & Copeland 2014). A decline in the species' abundance then was observed for Lake Dartmouth between the mid-1980s–2000 (Douglas et al., 2002; Hunt et al., 2011). The estimate of Macquarie perch abundance at the time of European settlement for the Mitta Mitta River catchment were rated as: abundant from both the slopes zone and upland zones, and; common from the montane zone (Trueman 2011). Recreational fishing of the species is currently permitted in Lake Dartmouth, with a daily bag limit of one fish, but the Victorian Government has tightened regulations associated with catching the species by increasing the legal minimum length from 250 mm to 300 mm in 2000, and then to 350 mm in 2004 (Hunt et al., 2011, Vic DEDJTR 2015c). There have been recent indications that the Lake Dartmouth population is recovering following years of higher rainfall that have resulted in greater inflows to the lake between 2008–2013, leading to increased biological productivity in the impoundment (Tonkin et al., 2014). SRA1 and 2 recorded no Macquarie perch in surveys at 21 sites across the Mitta Mitta River catchment both in 2005 and 2008 (Davies et al., 2008; 2012). SRA rarity scores for the species in the catchment were: common in the slopes and upland zones, and; rare in the montane zone (MDBA 2017).
For the Kiewa River catchment, historical research indicates that for the slopes zone of the catchment, Macquarie perch were abundant until a massive fish kill in 1939 in the catchment, initiated by extensive bushfires in the catchment in February (Rhodes 1999; Trueman 2011). The steep gradient between the slopes zone and the upland and montane zones of the Kiewa catchment is thought to have prevented access of Macquarie perch, and other native fish species, to these higher areas (Trueman 2011). It is now considered that the species is extinct in the Kiewa River catchment. The