Desert fishing lessons : adventures in Australia’s rivers

250 Pages·2011·2.379 MB·English

by  Kerezsy, Adam

DESERT FISHING LESSONS
Adam Kerezsy is an aquatic ecologist for Bush Heritage Australia
and a regular radio commentator on fish- and flooding-related
matters. In 2010 he completed his PhD on the distribution and
movement of fish in the isolated rivers of western Queensland
and the Simpson Desert. This is his first book.

Desert
Fishing Lessons
ADAm
ADventures
in AustrALiA's
rivers
kerezsy
First published in 2011 by
UWA Publishing
Crawley, Western Australia 6009
www.uwap.uwa.edu.au
UWA Publishing is a division of The University of Western Australia
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private
study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968,
no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries
should be made to the publisher.
Copyright © Adam Kerezsy 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Cover photograph of Lake Namabooka, Qld, by Adam Kerezsy, November 2010
Typeset by J&M Typesetting
Printed by Griffin Press
Map by Richard MacNeill, based on Geoscience Australia data
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Kerezsy, Adam.
Desert fishing lessons : adventures in Australia’s rivers / Adam Kerezsy.
ISBN: 9781742582528 (pbk.)
Includes bibliographical references.
Subjects: Watersheds--Australia.
Murray River Watershed (N.S.W.-S. Aust.)
577.640994
This project has been assisted by the Australian
Government through the Australia Council, its
arts funding and advisory body.

For my father Jenö,
and on the occasion of his 85th birthday

CONTENTS
Map vi–vii
Introduction 1
Part I: Down by the Riverside
1. A Little History 13
Basins and catchments • Ancient Lake Bungunnia •
Fish evolution • Humans invade Australia • Damming the Murray–Darling Basin
2. Big Nasty: The Carp Story 23
Lake Cargelligo • The Cyprinidae family •
The spread of Boolaran carp
3. The Alien Invasion 35
The extinction threat • First invaders in the 1860s • Salmon and trout •
Goldfish and other cyprinids • Redfin • Gambusia • Tropical fish

4. Hanging in There: Native Fish in the Murray–Darling 54
Macquarie perch and the family Percichthyidae • Commercial fishing
and other impacts • Electro-fishing • Native species from the
Lake Cargelligo system in the Lachlan catchment
Part II: Way Out West
5. Sometimes Wet, Mostly Dry, Always Unpredictable 73
Blacksoil country • Logistics • Rain and flood • Geomorphology •
River regulation
6. Little Fish, Big Dunefield: The Mulligan River in the
Simpson Desert 87
Ethabuka and Bush Heritage Australia • Pulchera waterhole • Pioneering fish •
Glassfish • Bony bream • Spangled perch • Silver catfish and the X cat • Craven’s
Peak and S-Bend Gorge • Teasing out theories • Rainbowfish • Dribbler Bore
7. Grass Castles and Water Wars: The Rivers of the Cooper
Catchment 122
Durack and his contemporaries • Cooper clover • Biogeography • Desert catfish •
Rising rivers and curious cops
8. Kidman Country: The Georgina and Diamantina
Catchments 145
Wet and dry catchments • Glenormiston Station • Goby monsters and monster
gobies • Classifying the critters • Harsh country in the Diamantina • Yellowbelly •
Three grunters – Barcoo, Welch’s and banded
9. Stuck in the Middle: The Bulloo Catchment 167
An enterprising farmer • Government funding • Changes in Australian
agriculture • Native fish in the Bulloo River
10. Things That Aren’t Fish 174
Yabbies, redclaw, crabs and shrimp • Adaptability to ephemeral waterways •
Bugs • Turtles
Part III: Recovery Road
11. Obstacles and Cautionary Tales 189
Red tape • Carp control and R&D • The Native Fish Strategy •
Translocation and its problems
12. Lessons from the Big Sky Country 205
A conference in Windorah • A dry lake • Lessons from the desert fish •
Preserving our outback rivers • Preventing further mistakes in all our rivers
13. Four Rivers 221
Notes 227
Appendices 231
Acknowledgments 233
Picture Credits 235
Select Bibliography 236