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COMMENT AND RESPONSE
Contents Vol 57(3)

Temporal change in fish assemblages in the lower Goulburn River, south-eastern Australia: comment on Pollino et al. (2004)

David A. Crook A B and Wayne M. Koster A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, VIC 3084, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: david.crook@dse.vic.gov.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 57(3) 303-308 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF05066
Submitted: 7 April 2005  Accepted: 17 January 2006   Published: 27 April 2006

Abstract

A recent analysis of fish assemblages in the Goulburn River, south-eastern Australia, used fish survey data collected between 1970 and 2002 to examine spatial patterns in the compositions and relative abundances of fish assemblages in the catchment. Based on this analysis, it was concluded that the native fish fauna of the Goulburn River is in a stressed condition and that introduced species dominate the fish assemblages. Fish survey data collected in 1982–1983 are compared with data collected in 2003–2004 to examine whether fish assemblages in the lower Goulburn River were stable at the temporal scale at which the data were aggregated in the previous analysis. The results show significant differences in fish assemblage composition between the two surveys, suggesting that fish assemblage structure in the lower Goulburn River did not remain stable between 1982–1983 and 2003–2004. The aggregation of data collected over several decades has the potential to confound analysis of spatial variations in fish assemblages and is unlikely to provide a reliable means of assessing their current condition.

Extra keywords: fish communities, flow regulation, Murray–Darling Basin, temporal stability.


Acknowledgments

Revenue raised from the sale of Victorian Recreational Fishing Licences was used to fund the 2003–2004 fish surveys. Members of the Goulburn Valley Association of Angling Clubs, in particular Ian Whan, Richard Maxwell, Wally Cubbin and Mike Edwards, are acknowledged for their role in the inception and organisation of the project. Thanks to Damien O'Mahony, Peter Fairbrother and Andrew Pickworth for assisting with the fieldwork. John Koehn, Paul Humphries and Alison King provided helpful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript and Sandy Morison and Andrea Brumley provided helpful information regarding the 1982–1983 surveys.


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