Overview & initial results
Hydroacoustic surveys of
NSW impoundments
NSW has a number of impoundments that form important freshwater recreational fisheries.
But how can we actually survey these fisheries to see how they’re performing?
How do we count fish in all that water?
Netting and electrofishing surveys can be expensive and time consuming when covering large areas such as lakes and dams.
However, with recent advances in hydroacoustics (or sonar) techniques fish numbers can be quickly estimated over large areas.
Why hydroacoustics?
Our hydroacoustic surveys use specialist fish finders designed to be more accurate and powerful for scientific purposes.
Fish species, numbers, sizes, swimming speeds, and swimming directions can all be determined.
How does it work?
What are we doing in NSW?
Trials were conducted at Narrandera and Gaden hatcheries to examine signals produced by Murray cod, Golden perch and Trout.
Scans have been completed in a number of major NSW waterways including Windamere, Burrendong, Jindabyne, Eucumbene and Copeton dams
What have we found?
Lots of fish!
Scroll through the next few pages for highlights or check out the interactive maps on our website.
These are preliminary results, with further analysis and data summaries to follow.
Copeton Dam
- 380 acres of water sampled.
- Over 1,100 fish longer than 200 mm detected.
- About 5% of fish over 600 mm (<1% over 800 mm).
Highlights:
Windamere Dam
- 275 acres of water sampled.
- Over 1,100 fish longer than 200 mm detected.
- About 12% of fish over 500 mm (4% over 800 mm).
Highlights:
Burrendong Dam
- 430 acres of water sampled.
- Over 2,460 fish longer than 200 mm detected.
- About 10.5% of fish over 500 mm (1% over 700 mm).
Highlights:
Jindabyne Dam
- 5475 acres of water sampled.
- Over 16,000 fish longer than 200 mm detected.
- About 50% of the fish recorded over 200 mm were >400 mm.
Highlights:
Further samples are planned for NSW impoundments.
This research forms part of a longer-term effort to better understand and manage fisheries into the future.
Please visit the freshwater fishing research website for more information and updates on these surveys.
What's next?