Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106:body:0:p18
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 48267–51207

(Lintermans 2007; Faulks et al., 2010; Pavlova et al., 2017a). The species is now absent from much of its former range. In New South Wales, the species still occurs in parts of the Lachlan, Murrumbidgee in the Murray-Darling Basin, and in the east coast catchments, the Hawkesbury-Nepean system and the Georges River (Lintermans 2007; Faulks et al., 2010). In the Australian Capital Territory, the species still occurs in the Cotter River catchment, which flows into the Murrumbidgee River, and the Murrumbidgee River itself, however it is now only in extremely low abundance in the Murrumbidgee River (Lintermans 2007; Lintermans unpub. data, cited in Lintermans 2013a). In Victoria, the species still occurs in the Mitta Mitta, Ovens and Goulburn-Broken river catchments (Lintermans 2007) (Figure 3).
The populations of Macquarie perch in impoundments such as Lake Eildon, Victoria (its dam completed in 1929 in the Goulburn River catchment) and Lake Burrinjuck, New South Wales (its dam completed in 1928 in the Murrumbidgee River catchment) initially sustained significant recreational fishing pressure but ultimately declined dramatically, with the species now extinct from both reservoirs (Cadwallader & Rogan 1977; Douglas et al., 2002; Lintermans 2006a; 2007; 2012). The Macquarie perch population within Lake Dartmouth, Victoria (its dam completed in 1979 in Mitta Mitta river catchment) also underwent a major decline, but has shown recent signs of recovery following increased reservoir productivity and increased restrictions on recreational catch (Hunt et al., 2011, Tonkin et al., 2014). Within 12 years of the completion of Dartmouth Dam, the species disappeared from the Mitta Mitta River downstream of the dam (Koehn et al., 1995; Lugg & Copeland 2014).
New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory
Below Cotter Dam (original dam completed in 1915 across the Cotter River, Murrumbidgee River catchment), Macquarie perch are sometimes recorded in the Cotter River and individuals are likely to have originated from the upstream reservoir (Lintermans 2002). Above the dam, Macquarie perch are now found in Cotter Reservoir and for a possible 27 km of the Cotter River upstream of the reservoir and downstream of Bendora Reservoir, now that a fishway has been installed at Vanity's Crossing since 2001 and Pipeline Crossing since 2012 (Lintermans 2002; 2007; Ebner & Lintermans 2007; Lintermans 2012; Broadhurst et al., 2013).
A targeted survey undertaken in 1998 and 1999 failed to locate Macquarie perch in any of the Yass, Bredbo, Numeralla, Kybean, and Big Badja rivers of the Murrumbidgee River catchment (Lintermans 2002), where they once occurred. The survey recorded in very low numbers in the Goodradigbee River and reasonable numbers in the upper Murrumbidgee River from Cooma to Yaouk (approximately 1100 m a.s.l) (Lintermans 2002). The population in the Goodradigbee River is now considered extinct following a