A century of regulation of Gunbower Creek diminished the number of young Murray cod, but a management plan implemented three years ago appears to be working.

The long-term plan uses Commonwealth environmental water to stabilise creek levels and provide better breeding conditions for the fish.

“Regulation and modernisation of the creek means water levels rise and fall dramatically, and the male Murray cod whose job it is to protect the nest of eggs don’t like that,” North Central Catchment Management Authority project manager Anna Parker said.

“They feel under threat and abandon their eggs, leaving the eggs exposed to predators.

“The end result is there aren’t enough juvenile cod in the system, which is dangerous to the species’ long-term survival in the creek.”

The plan also delivers water outside of irrigation season, a time when creek levels dropped and left only residual pools, which the fish struggled to survive in.

““Now, we can deliver flow to connect the  pools, providing fish with greater habitat for shelter and areas to feed,” Ms Parker said.

Ms Parker said local anglers had reported more Murray cod were being caught in the creek than they could remember, and the North Central CMA’s own monitoring backed this up, showing greater numbers of fish.

The monitoring also indicated a more diverse range of ages among Murray cod, she said, “which points to fish surviving longer and benefitting from consecutive and constant environmental flows”.