LOCALS are invited to get hands-on to release crayfish back into the Murray River in Swan Hill this Friday afternoon, July 5.
OzFish and its partners are returning crayfish from the 1400 rescued in the 2022-23 floods, relocated to the Narrandera Fisheries Centre and released into the Murray upstream of the centre.
A team will recapture as many of the released crayfish as possible this week to then release into the Murray River at Riverside Park in Swan Hill.
“The aim was always to get them back into the river at Swan Hill where they were rescued from,” OzFish Northern Victoria project manager Michelle Slater said.
“We had a reduced population through this stretch of the river to begin with, which is why we’re no longer able to legally catch them because their population has been too low, and it’s important to bring them back to grow that population.
“They do belong there and they should thrive there, but they have their own ecological niche,” she said.
“They’re good at cleaning up the scraps in the river and helping keep the river clean and healthy.”
The event on Friday will be a great opportunity for the community to get hands-on with freshwater crayfish and revitalise the local population, and attendees will be encouraged to get involved.
“It’s open to everyone of all ages and all abilities,” Ms Slater said.
“If you’ve got an interest in river health or you’d just like to get up close and personal with a crayfish, we welcome you to come along and get involved.”
Volunteers assisted in the rescue of crayfish crawling out of the river during the floods, which caused hypoxic blackwater and put the crayfish population at risk of death.
Hypoxic blackwater is a natural consequence of flooding in which too much organic matter in a river leaves the water too low in oxygen for critters to survive.
However, it also releases carbon and nutrients into the water which boosts the health of the river, according to the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.
The crayfish will be released at 5.30pm on Friday, July 5, by OzFish, in collaboration with Landcare NSAW, Edward-Wakool Anglish Association, The Join Indigenous Group, Western Murrayland Improvement Group and NSW DPI Fisheries.
For more information and to register to attend, go to https://ozfish.org.au/event/swan-hill-murray-crayfish-relocation/
