Catchment Solutions

Catchment Solutions is looking for a Fish Biologist / Aquatic Ecologist / Environmental Engineer to fill a new role in the business as it continues to expand. If you are looking for a career opportunity please follow the Seek link attached. https://lnkd.in/g_ebz4T8

Video showing juvenile snakehead and empire gudgeon migrating upstream through a novel Nursery Slot fishway designed for weaker swimming juvenile diadromous species. Footage captured during recent fishway assessment monitoring in Nth QLD on Lagoon Creek. The juvenile fish utilise a boundary layer of reduced velocity created by the shallow stepped slot, enabling them to undertake their life-cycle dependent migration from saltwater habitats (downstream) to upstream freshwater wetlands. Interestingly, all of the snakehead gudgeons were smaller than we have previously recorded with 46 individuals between 23-45 mm. Terrain NRM https://lnkd.in/ggy3KDdD

Rock fishways recently constructed for Terrain NRM in the Wet Tropics near Ingham and Cardwell along Lagoon, Lannercost and Five Mile creeks have proven resilient after enduring two indirect cyclones and subsequent flooding. Scheduled fishway assessment monitoring, in partnership with OzFish Unlimited is set to take place in the coming weeks, including the evaluation of the innovative nursery slot rock fishway on Lagoon Creek. Stay tuned for updates on the outcomes of this monitoring. Photo credit: Geoffrey Collins OzFish Unlimited . #fishpassage #connectivity #waterengineering #restoration #fisheries

For more than 50 years coastal graziers have valued ponded pasture for its capacity to provide stock feed in the dryer months. Jason Bradford, a generational farmer, is working with a local NRM, Reef Catchments, and the fisheries ecologists at Catchment Solutions to return the balance between grazing and native species habitat. Part 2 discusses how herbicide usage is reduced or eliminated, biodiversity and managing grazing practices control Hymenachne in the wetlands. It also provides an insight into the type of fisheries improvement work, which can be implemented into ponded pasture operations. In particular fishladders, fish refuge pools and the managed control of wetlands plant life through improved grazing practices are discussed in the video. Ponded pastures are lauded for their potential to be highly productive grazing areas and to produce out-of-season feed in rainfall dependent regions. Many of these pastures have been developed on coastal floodplains adjacent to or on intertidal wetlands, estuaries, and salt marshes. This makes ponded pastures attractive nursery grounds for juvenile fish. Due to their shallow, expansive nature, ponded pastures reduce in volume throughout the year. In drought years the wetlands may completely dry and fisheries productivity can be lost. Constructing large refuge pools is one way of maintaining fish populations through extended dry periods. https://lnkd.in/gK27KH9T