Boyne River Barra explosion

[rayken1938]

Would not the situation be exaberated due to it being breeding season and the fish naturally wishing to migrate to the salt.
There is nothing that be done except to ramp up the stocking program to try and compensate for the lost fish but then again that is a bit of a minefield as we have no idea of the fish lost and it could be that the dam would become overstocked which would slow down the growth rate of the new fish.
Just hope that a percentage of fish survive the big drop so that people can enjoy the new fishery created downstream.
Just one question for Kurt how often do you change your broodstock to ensure a genetic difference between fingerlings.
I see that others have posed the question of the waters below the dam being infested with barra all of the same genetic pool and affecting the subsequent fingerlings and destroying the natural wild strain.
At least you do not seem to have the white bucket brigade that we have down in Brisbane that pillage the downstream areas below your dams.
Cheers
Ray

[Member101]

Hi all,

So my understanding is that the barra are dying from the flight over the wall? A plausible, but cost wise impractical solution is to build a ramp so the water and fish dont so much gush over, but more slide over. Like a water slide for fish really.

Ive lived in gladstone all my life (all 27 years) and ive never seen so many barra. Dead or alive. It is sad but, thats life.

Cheers
Steve

[NAGG]

Would not the situation be exaberated due to it being breeding season and the fish naturally wishing to migrate to the salt.
There is nothing that be done except to ramp up the stocking program to try and compensate for the lost fish but then again that is a bit of a minefield as we have no idea of the fish lost and it could be that the dam would become overstocked which would slow down the growth rate of the new fish.
Just hope that a percentage of fish survive the big drop so that people can enjoy the new fishery created downstream.
Just one question for Kurt how often do you change your broodstock to ensure a genetic difference between fingerlings.
I see that others have posed the question of the waters below the dam being infested with barra all of the same genetic pool and affecting the subsequent fingerlings and destroying the natural wild strain.
At least you do not seem to have the white bucket brigade that we have down in Brisbane that pillage the downstream areas below your dams.
Cheers
Ray

Its closed season Ray ...... otherwise I'm sure there would be plenty fishing down stream

Chris

[oldboot]

Hi all,

So my understanding is that the barra are dying from the flight over the wall? A plausible, but cost wise impractical solution is to build a ramp so the water and fish dont so much gush over, but more slide over. Like a water slide for fish really.

Ive lived in gladstone all my life (all 27 years) and ive never seen so many barra. Dead or alive. It is sad but, thats life.

Cheers
Steve

There will be a certain portion of the escapees that get dashed on the rocks...... but my brother recons it is the sudden temperature change that is killing a very large portion..and the bigger fish would not cope as well as the smaller ones.

Apparantly big barra survive quite well going over the wall at the Burdican....and that is a rougher ride than just about any other damn.....but they die after few days of the fish equavalent of pneumonia.

That rings true from my aquarium experiences as a kid.

cheers

[barradise]

Having taken a close look at a number of these fish over the past weeks, it looks to me like the spillway design it self is the major cause of a great deal of the deaths.

Many of the barra clearly showed major trauma to there stomache area which may be consistant with hitting the concrete rakers at the bottom of the spillway.
A number of barra also had there jaws and head smashed-in. Nearly all the dead fish I seen showed signs of trauma to there body in some shape or another which indicated an impact with something solid.

The difference in water temperature in this case would be minor, if this was part of the cause of some deaths then the same type of kill would appear in the Fitzroy river below the barrage.

[owey87]

yeah most i have seen showed trauma wether being missing large portions of scales to being just a bit fudged up.

[mylestom]

Don't think that the dam and spillway was designed with large barra in mind. It is a privilege that the fish are stocked.

These types of natural events will try everyone. But to think that every little problem should have been foreseen seems strange.

Feel sorry for all those who have had damage, personal loss from the floods. Wish you all the best.

The barra can be restocked.

Regards

Trev