The MDBA has launched new efforts to allow fish to swim more freely along 2,000 km of northern Basin rivers. 

The Murray Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) says its suite of Northern Basin Toolkit projects will include fishways and fish screens on pumps. 

Structures will also be built to improve the delivery of water for the environment in the Macquarie Marshes, New South Wales, one of the largest remaining inland semi-permanent wetlands in south-eastern Australia.  

The 3 Northern Basin Toolkit projects are: 

  • Fish for the Future: Reconnecting the Northern Basin Project 

  • Fish for the Future: Fish-friendly Water Extraction Project – Barwon–Darling and Gwydir Rivers 

  • Macquarie Marshes Enhanced Watering Project

Fishways allow fish to pass around dams, weirs or other in-stream obstacles. The re-connecting of the Northern Basin Project will remove barriers or modify 22 obstacles creating a 2,100km fish highway in the Barwon–Darling and Border Rivers. 

With the support of $180 million in federal funding, a total of 10 environmental works and measures projects should be completed by 2024. 

The MDBA says the measures will support an additional 70 GL of water in productive use under the Basin Plan in the northern Basin and provide a much-needed economic stimulus to communities in the region. 

More details are accessible here.