Casey's Weir - a Valuable Stepping Stone for Native Fish
Before Casey’s Weir was built downstream of Benalla in the late 19th century, there were ten times more native fish than today.
We now know that native fish need access throughout rivers and streams as part of their natural migration pattern. For example, the Golden Perch has been known to travel 1000 kilometres upstream to spawn.
Man-made barriers such as dams, weirs and roadways can block fish routes up and down the river, disturb feeding patterns and affect their distribution.
In 1998 Casey’s Weir was identified as a priority ‘problem’ site for fish, and a fishway was designed for the weir.
The fishway is an open concrete chute with slots arranged at regular intervals to resemble a series of broken pools like those often found in rivers. These pools provide resting areas for fish using the passage.
Recent research, has given a strong indication that the fishway at Casey's Weir is helping native fish species.
A fish trap was installed in the fishway, to see if fish were using the it. The results found a number of important native fish using the structure, including Murray cod and Golden Perch.This is the strongest indication that fish are capable of ascending the fishway successfully and can now move into upstream reaches of the system.