The first national recovery plan for the Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) has now been released. The plan establishes a national framework to guide and coordinate the recovery of the Macquarie perch throughout its range in Australian waters. The Recovery Plan identifies research and management priorities necessary to assist the long-term recovery of these species.
Criteria for success
This recovery plan will be deemed successful if, within 10 years, most of the following have been achieved:
- Populations of Macquarie perch have increased in size and/or distribution at each known location.
- Self-sustaining populations of Macquarie perch have been established at locations in its natural range where it once historically occurred but no longer occurs.
- A long-term population monitoring strategy has been implemented and is ongoing for the Macquarie perch in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Victoria.
- There is improvement in understanding of what threat mitigation is required to recover the Macquarie perch.
- There is implementation of threat mitigation measures to protect known Macquarie perch populations.
- Macquarie perch can be reliably bred in closed-life cycle hatcheries, which are supplemented with broodstock from the wild, as appropriate, to maintain genetic diversity.
- Genetic diversity of the Macquarie perch increases or remains the same.
The Recovery Plan for the Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) was prepared by the Department and has been made under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as the national recovery plan for this species. The species is an endemic species found in NSW, ACT and Victoria.
If you want to know more about the plan and how you can get involved you can download it here.
More species information about Macquarie Perch here.
