Why we loved working on this project
Its not often we get the opportunity to make a REAL impact in the world. When Victorian Fisheries Authority trusted us to produce this documentary to help save the species, we were thrilled with the prospect of creating a piece that would win the hearts and minds of not only the public, but key decision makers and policy makers in Australia. The feedback received so far has achieved exactly that. Knowing that this video was crucial to the survival of a species, we went above and beyond. Including braving freezing temperate in high country rivers to film the species in their natural habitat. Photos taken on site have also been published in scientific papers from this shoot. We are super proud of this production.
Story
Since the 1950’s fisheries Victoria have been trying to “crack the code” on how to captively breed Macquarie perch, efforts have been made with traditional styles of captive breeding, but to no avail. We have seen massive declines and catastrophic wipe-outs of Maccas in areas all along the eastern seaboard. Now we are left with only one viable brood stock in a secret location in the Victorian high country. We catch these wild Macquarie perch right when they are ready to spawn, so we can then take them to our hatchery and successfully fertilise the eggs and grow out the young until they are old enough to release into other areas around the state and replenish stocks.
Unfortunately this means we are taking the key breeders from the last remaining area and so its unsustainable
We estimate we only have 5 years left to be able to do this before the species is gone completely, however if we don’t do this, there will be no secondary populations around the state and as we recently saw in lake Eildon, the population can be suddenly wiped out. We are on a critical timeline to work out how to captively breed Macquarie perch.
Macquarie perch was once, one of the most abundant and popular Australian native freshwater fish through its range, in south-eastern reaches of the Murray–Darling River System.
This iconic freshwater fish species was an important species in the ecology of freshwater river systems and the species historically supported a popular and productive recreational fisheries for food and sport. Impacts from a variety of factors, including habitat loss, stream barriers, cold-water discharges, diseases and exotic species have contributed to a huge decline in the range and abundance of Macquarie perch. Macquarie perch are now a listed endangered species.The distribution of Macquarie perch is now fragmented into only a handful of small discrete populations that are reproductively isolated by a combination of distance and physical barriers(dams and weirs). Given many threats remain, and that bushfires recently have further impacted remnant populations, time is running out if we are to save Macquarie perch from extinction and bring them back to be major feature in our freshwater river systems.
