Tocumwal Community Development Committee members and community members at this week's fingerling release. Photos by Tocumwal Tells columnist Leonie Smith.
The Tocumwal Community Development Committee has partnered with Inland Fisheries NSW to boost the number of golden perch in local waterways.
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Group members and supporters yesterday released 8333 fingerlings at Pumps Beach, Tocumwal.
The golden perch is a medium-sized, yellow or gold-coloured species of Australian freshwater fish, found primarily in the Murray-Darling River system.
Also known as the yellowbelly, the golden perch is a favoured eating fish and can be a fine adversary, putting up a good fight when hooked.
They can reach up to 30cm-40cm and 1kg-2kg in weight in rivers, where they are lean and more muscled.
Golden perch in lakes tend to grow bigger and are heavier.
This native fish, which varies in colour from silvery gold in turbid waters to deep olive brown in lakes, is declining throughout Australian waterways.
That’s why the TCDC was involved in this week’s release.
It was an early release - at 7.15am, not long after the sun came up, but a great time for little fish to swim to freedom.
Tocumwal families were there to wish the scaled little fellows a good life, feasting on yabbies, worms and smaller fish.
Yes, the yellowbelly is carnivorous and that is why he is easy to catch, thinking lures are a yummy dinner waiting just for him.
Unusually, the females grow larger than the males, and take longer to mature.
The female is ready for breeding by age four, but temperature and water levels need to be just right for the magic to happen.
Families joined TCDC members to release the fingerlings.
Sadly, many of the spawned fish perish if they have to go through river locks and weirs, though in recent years fish ladders help survival rates.
Another good thing about golden perch is that they reproduce readily in captivity, allowing replenishment schemes to mitigate the decline in natural native stocks
The TCDC wish to thank Inland Fisheries NSW for awarding the grant to procure the fingerlings.
Their release will help to ensure good fishing in the Tocumwal reaches of the Murray River in the next three to four years and beyond, and hopefully many will reproduce and increase the number of native fish in the river.
It is hoped that those young people who attended the release yesterday realise they were watching history unfold, as the fish were released to reverse the decline of the golden perch in the Murray River.
We look forward to seeing the result as a fish dinner one day in the future.
~ contributed by Anne Jones, on behalf of the TCDC.
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