In Search of the Trout Cod

Siwan and I are very fortunate to be working with the Native Fish Strategy at the Murray Darling Basin Authority on a project involving Will Trueman (researcher and author) and Richard Snashall (film maker).

Will has undertaken an incredible piece of research, over many many years, into the status of native fish in the lower Murray Darling. Will has successfully combined the science, the historical records (newspapers, books and photographs) and anecdotes (oral histories) from sometimes very elderly residents of the region, to show just how prevalent the Trout Cod, Murray Cod, Macquarie Perch and many other native fish were in the 1860s up to the present day.

Will has done an exceptional job of combining science and story to create an accurate record of the status of native fish in the basin over the last 150+ years. He has also drawn on the writings of Mary Gilmore which are absolutely fascinating (more on this in later blogs) and now I find I am also reading all these wonderful accounts of early Australia. Using this variety of information he has created a captivating history of the loss of native fish from the region and what may have caused some of these losses.

The products of this project will include the full publication which will be submitted to the legal deposit libraries across Australia as a research record; a series of catchment by catchment publications, a web site with links to all the information; and several videos of Will sharing the stories and science that make up this amazing project. I was particularly impressed to hear that Will used Trove at the National Library of Australia to access the old newspaper records.  He told us that this research made up 30% of his primary source material and he could not have undertaken the level of research without having access to Trove.

I am particularly taken with this newspaper article about the size and aggression of the Trout Cod which Will found in the Trove database.

Adelaide Register, 20 May 1892

Murray Fish and their Habits (From our own correspondent) Blanchetown, May 15.

The Murray cod may be caught from one – quarter of an inch in length to over 100 lb. in weight. / A young German, an assistant at a wool washing establishment about five miles from here, was in a habit of bathing off the stage, and one day while having his usual dip sat on the stage with his feet swaying to and fro in the water, when a cod seized his foot, at the same time nearly forcing him off the stage into the water, the German having his foot severely scarred by the teeth of the cod. Some time elapsed before he recovered. At Weston’s Flat, a short distance above Morgan, the residents were in the habit of swimming their stock across the river for feed, and while swimming one of the horses it turned on one side, and with difficulty the boatman towed it to the shore, and with aid of blocks and tackle hauled him onto dry land, when, to their surprise, a huge cod had the horse’s foot in his mouth. The cod was captured, and weighed over 90 lb. Without doubt in some of the numerous cases of drowning, where good swimmers have disappeared, they have had a tussle with one of these “monsters of the deep.” 

This is just one sample of the newspaper articles collected by Will in his research.  The anecdotes collected from the fishermen are even more fascinating, but you will have to wait for the publication (expected by the end of 2011) for more.

Nerida

Storytelling boosts scientific literacy

Nerida came across this interesting article on storytelling and how it can keep students engaged in science.

Professor Stephen Ritchie from Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Education is leading a team examining how emotional learning through storytelling and other strategies can enhance scientific literacy.  There is a declining interest in senior secondary science courses, and this is having a flow-on effect to universities, contributing to skills shortages and a lack of understanding about science issues in society.  Professor Ritchie says:

“What we know is while Australian students do fairly well in most measures of scientific literacy on international tests, they become disengaged as the curriculum becomes more formal….Students lose interest in science in years 8, 9 and 10. That has a flow-on effect to their subject choices in year 11 and 12 and career choices for university.”

Through this work Ritchie says that what they hope to do is to:

“… provide the students with opportunities to engage emotionally in science activities.  One way we can do this is getting students to write ‘hybridised stories’ where technical, scientific information is merged with everyday language on topics relevant to them.”

This hybridised approach is one that we use all the time at the ARRC, as we find it is the best way to bring ‘facts and figures’ to life, and for the science we have on river restoration to be made relevant and interesting to people.  What we really like about Ritchie’s approach is that he is thinking about the future, as he says:

“If you really want kids to become scientifically literate and engaged meaningfully in community decisions and intelligent debate as adults, we need to teach them how to access reputable information and apply it.”

These children are our future and we wholeheartedly endorse the thinking and intent behind this project.

To find out more about this work follow this link

Nerida and Siwan

Evolving issues and practices in groundwater dependent ecosystem management – new National Water Commission Report

Groundwater dependent ecosystems include wetlands, baseflow ecosystems, stygofauna (fauna living within aquifers), estuarine and marine ecosystems, fauna and terrestrial vegetation. The nature and degree of their dependence on groundwater varies significantly. Often groundwater dependent ecosystems rely on groundwater for a certain period of time and without access the result can be irreversible ecological damage or long recovery periods.  This new National Water Commission report uses seven case studies to capture information on the range and extent of management tools available and the effectiveness of water planning policy controls in protecting groundwater dependent ecosystems. It attempts to capture the current status of the scientific knowledge (data and analysis) for supporting effective policy decisions related to the protection and management of groundwater dependent ecosystems.

This Waterlines publication will be of interest to a broad audience including decision makers, water planners and policy makers, water managers, ecosystem and catchment managers, environmental regulators, and water authorities.  Follow this link to download the report.

Know your networks

Understanding the formal and informal communication networks in your organisation is crucial to managing successfully.

The ARRC works with organisations and people across a number of different disciplines.  Recently we have been developing a partnership with Graham Durant-Law, who specialised in social network analysis.  This is a fascinating area of work, and we are finding that when this analytical tool is combined with qualitative evaluation techniques, an in-depth and much more insightful understanding is gained about how relationships and networks in an organisation are helping or hindering the achievement of goals.  Graham has provided us with an introduction to social network analysis that we hope you find interesting….

With businesses increasingly operating with an evolving and interconnected series of networks, the need for analytical techniques to understand these relationships is growing. Social network analysis views relationships in terms of network theory, with each network made up of individuals or organisations and their interdependency. The resulting structures are often very complicated, but when analysed can reveal knowledge flows, relationships and social capital in an organisation, as shown in the map below.

Read more »

The Annual Water forum

The Annual Water forum at the Albury-Wodonga campus of La Trobe University will be held on 29th July 2011.

The forum is sponsored by La Trobe University, North East Water and the Department of Primary Industries (Vic) and this year covers topics relating to urban water and the management of environmental water reserves. Speakers include prominent members of industry, government and academics working in the field.

View the Forum program for the day (pdf) and registrations can be made online. Please feel free to share with others in your organisation that may benefit from participating.