MERI for Fish of the Melbourne Water region: A Discussion Paper

Fish occupy a diverse range of habitat types across the greater Melbourne region, and are influenced by environmental conditions such as hydroclimatic variability and disturbances to their habitat or catchment surroundings. Fish populations are currently being impacted by a range of anthropogenic threats in the region such as flow regime change, fish passage barriers, urbanisation, habitat modification and loss (instream and riparian), floodplain isolation, climate change and introduced species. Fish are of high cultural, social and biodiversity value, and are therefore a key value and important indicator of overall waterway health. Hence, it is important to measure and track fish population status throughout the region, and determine which management targets have been achieved, and where suitable management restoration efforts should be applied or whether they have been successful.