Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106:body:0:p19
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2019L00106
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 50944–53842

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 major bushfire in the catchment followed by a large rain event (NSW DPI pers. comm., 2017). More recent surveys indicate a small population persists in the upper Murrumbidgee River near 'Cooma Gorge' at Binjura Nature Reserve (upstream of Cooma and downstream of Tantangara Dam) (unpub. data., cited in Lintermans pers. comm., 2017).
No Macquarie perch have been reported from downstream of Wyangala Dam (dam completed in 1935 across the Lachlan River) for many decades (Trueman pers. comm., cited in Gilligan et al., 2010). Sampling in the Lachlan River catchment upstream of Wyangala Dam between 2006–2008, reported catching no Macquarie perch in the impoundment waters itself, but found Macquarie perch to be proportionally the most common large native fish in the Abercrombie and the Lachlan rivers (Gilligan et al., 2010). However, it appears likely that the species is extinct from the Lachlan River upstream of Lake Wyangala (Pearce et al., 2017). The species has not been detected in the Lachlan River above Lake Wyangala since 2008 (NSW DPI pers. comm., 2016).
Natural populations of Macquarie perch still occur in the east coast catchments of the Hawkesbury-Nepean river system and the Georges River (Faulks et al., 2010). It is likely that the natural population that once occurred in the Shoalhaven River is now extinct, with the last known population in the catchment, in the Mongarlowe River, presumed to be a result of translocated individuals from the Murray-Darling Basin (Harris & Rowland 1996; Lintermans 2008; Faulks et al., 2010). A recent analysis of the only available individual genetic sample for the Shoalhaven River lineage (caught in the Kangaroo River) was homozygous at 90 per cent of loci, which suggests that loss of genetic variation and individual inbreeding accompanied extinction of the endemic Shoalhaven lineage (Pavlova et al., 2017a). Where Macquarie perch persist in eastern catchments, they mostly occur in waterways upstream of where Australian bass populations are located (Harris & Rowland 1996).
Victoria
Recent observations have shown self-sustaining native populations of Macquarie perch are still present in Victoria in the upper tributaries of the Goulburn-Broken river system (King Parrot, Hughes, Holland's creeks and the Broken River), the Ovens River catchment (including the Buffalo River tributary) and the upper Mitta Mitta River (including Lake Dartmouth) (ARI 2007; Ayres 2009; Hunt et al., 2011; Nguyen et al., 2012; Tonkin et al., 2014; Kearns & Tonkin 2015). While recent surveys have detected a few individuals in the Goulburn River 2.5 km downstream from the King Parrot