Fish Passage: Where have we come from? Where are we going? and How do we get it done?

Join us for the RBMS Melbourne Seminar – Fish Passage: Where have we come from? Where are we going? and How do we get it done?

Come along to the October RBMS Seminar and increase your Connectivity to Fish Passage.

Guest speakers from ARI and Melbourne Water will present on the history of fish passage in Australia, improvements to the design process for fishways, and the influence of environmental flows on fish passage.

Ivor Stuart

Ivor is a senior scientist with 25+ years experience at the Arthur Rylah Institute, DELWP. He has a particular interest in fish migration, fishways, carp management and river flows.

Ivor has spent the last few years working on the Murray and Darling rivers and is at present delivering a project which estimates the national carp biomass.

Justin O’Connor

Justin is an aquatic biologist specialising in all aspects of the ecology of freshwater fish working in the Applied Aquatic Ecology Group, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research. Justin has over 25 years’ experience in research, assessment and conservation of freshwater ecosystems, river restoration and threatened species assessment and management. The focus of much of his recent work, however, relates to fish movement and connectivity and includes the publication of guidelines aimed at providing contemporary information to the broad community of people working to improve river connectivity.

Ivor and Justin will provide some insight into the history of fish passage projects in Victoria and the future direction of fish passage along with providing an overview of the newly released design guidelines for fishways.

Sarah Gaskill

Sarah has worked in environmental flows for the last nine years and is passionate about achieving the best environmental outcomes for wetlands and waterways. Sarah also has experience in flow monitoring and hydrometry and is currently the Acting Team Leader for the Upper Yarra Regional Services Team.

Priya Crawford-Wilson

Priya has recently begun a 6 month secondment in the Environmental Flows team, coming from working along the Yarra developing river health projects. Priya has a background in community engagement having worked in the education and Waterwatch teams at Melbourne Water.

Sarah and Priya will discuss the use of environmental flows in the lifecycle of Australian Grayling along the Bunyip-Tarago system on Westernport.

Grayling migrate up and downstream, triggered by flow events throughout the year. On a regulated system such as the Tarago, environmental water plays an essential role in providing ecological cues for this species.