Nymboida Bushfre Recovery gets helping hand as Eastern Freshwater Cod fghts back from brink of extinction

Three years after bushfres, then foods, devastated the Nymboida River, its revival is continuing to gather pace in and out of the water.

And the rejuvenation of the area is not just on land with the endangered eastern freshwater cod also benefting from the countless hours of hard workthat has been put in to help regenerate the catchment.

The latest boost to habitat on the Nymboida comes from a combination of community grants awarded to the Clarence River Chapter of OzFishUnlimited, Australia’s fshing conservation charity, following assistance from Landcare Bushfre Recovery Grants. Funds secured from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s Yulgilbar Foundation will result in 5km of exotic weeds being removed from the riparian zone and 1000 local native plants established in their place.

A further three hectares of weed management and another 1000 trees are being funded by the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife through its bushfre recovery restoration grants.

OzFish and Landcare NSW volunteer groups in the region have used a long-term agreement to restore fsh habitat across New South Wales.

Trees will be planted on community education days and is backed by support from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trusts that will see local Landcare groups collaborate with recreational fshers to drive the restoration of fsh habitat on the Nymboida River and secure the future of the endangered eastern freshwater cod and other inhabitants, including platypuses.

“The vegetation in the riparian zone, especially after the fres was pretty fragile,” said Alacia Cockbain, OzFish Project Offcer - NSW Coast.

The Nymboida is one of the last remaining breeding grounds of a wild population of eastern freshwater cod. As recently as the 1980s there were less than 1000 left in the wild.

A breeding and restocking program for the freshwater cod has resulted in fngerlings being released while an artifcial spawning habitat has been trialled in the river over the past year to further replenish numbers. and all its tributaries upstream of its junction with the Clarence River from the beginning of August until the end of October.

This three-month fshing closure is during their breeding season when the cod are quite aggressive protecting their eggs from predators.

“They are totally protected. If people catch them by accident outside of the breeding season, they should keep them in the water and safely release them straight away,” Ryan Lungu, OzFish’s NSW Coast Program Manager, said. All fshing gear in or adjacent to these seasonally closed waters is prohibited with heavy fnes in place for anyone who transgresses.

One of the important elements to protecting the eastern freshwater cod is the ban on all fshing in the Nymboida River, Mann River

This project was made possible by the OzFish-Landcare NSW partnership, and funded by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s Yulgilbar Foundation, the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife, the NSW Recreational Fishing Trusts and BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing.

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