Developing & testing fish passage technologies to conserve fisheries

Inland fisheries provide a major source of food to communities around the world.

Rivers deliver this food to the communities. In some Southeast Asian countries, for instance, fish supply up to 80% of the animal protein intake of the local people (Hortle 2007), and directly or indirectly support the livelihoods of up to 95% of rural households (Hortle and Campbell 2009).

The supply of food is dependent on there being access to key ingredients.

Fisheries’ health relies upon the fish having access to suitable feeding, spawning and nursery habitat so that they can grow and reproduce.

Unfortunately, many of our rivers are no longer able to deliver food to communities.

Human developments have removed access to some of the key ingredients. There are already over 45,000 large dams (dams > 15 m) (World Commission on Dams 2000) fragmenting the earth’s river systems, and many more small irrigation structures (e.g. weirs) and road crossings (e.g. culverts).

These barriers are preventing fish from accessing crucial habitats, and therefore causing declines to the productivity of the fisheries.

There’s a critical need to limit and reverse the loss of access to these key ingredients.

For example, current modelling suggests that the Mekong River system, the home of the world’s most productive inland fishery, could lose up to 70% of its migratory fish biomass if all currently planned dams are completed (Welcomme et al. 2015; Ziv et al. 2012), and notwithstanding the impacts from any other new small irrigation structures or road crossings.

We are addressing this challenge.

The IFRG undertakes research to inform the development of fish passage technologies, such as fish ladders, that facilitate the transfer of food to communities.

Our focus is on looking after fish from egg to adult stage and ensuring the sustainability of river infrastructure projects.

The IFRG is based at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia. We have key partner investigators in Asia, Europe, the UK, North and South America, and Africa.