7 – The extent and adequacy of monitoring for Australian threatened freshwater fish species^87
the continuing description of new fish species in Australia (16 of the 57 taxa
considered in this chapter have only been described in the last decade, and the
national freshwater fish fauna may increase in number by two-thirds once all
species are described (P. Unmack pers. comm.). In addition, some aspects of the
statutory process of the EPBC Act contribute to relative delays in listing
assessments. Unlike other vertebrate groups in Australia, there is no documented
extinction of an Australian freshwater fish, although one species is extinct in the
wild (but out-of-range translocated populations are secure; Chilcott et al. 2013) and
one currently undescribed species (Kangaroo River Macquarie perch) is thought to
have been recently extirpated (Faulks et al. 2010; Lintermans 2013a). It is possible
that some taxa have gone extinct before they were described. Despite this lack of
documented extinctions, there are several species that are perilously close to being
lost, and monitoring of such species is a key management requirement and activity.
There has been no previous review of monitoring programs for Australian
threatened freshwater fish. Recovery planning to guide threatened species
management is a relatively recent undertaking in Australia, with most recovery
plans in only their first or second iteration. The Millennium Drought (1997–2010)
in south-eastern Australia dramatically affected many threatened fish species, with
much of the management focus being on emergency interventions rather than the
development of sophisticated monitoring programs (Ellis et al. 2013; Hammer et al.
2013; Lintermans 2013b; Lintermans et al. 2014). Consequently, there is little
published on the performance of threatened fish monitoring programs, and the
extent and adequacy of threatened fish monitoring is unreported.
Methods
This chapter uses the framework described in Chapter 2 to assess the extent and
adequacy of monitoring programs for the 38 EPBC-listed freshwater fish taxa and
an additional 19 species nationally listed or considered in need of listing by the
ASFB, which are considered (by these authors) likely to be included on the EPBC
listings in the near future (Table 7.1).
Because the focus of the current review is restricted to nationally threatened
freshwater fishes, only monitoring programs that could inform national population
trends, status and recovery were considered. Unlike other adequacy reviews in this
book (Chapters 3–6), this chapter does not review all local, regional or
jurisdictional monitoring programs for a taxon, but provides a synthesised national
approach for each taxon. Information on the extent and adequacy of monitoring
was based on communications with experts involved in the study and management
of each taxon from state and territory conservation agencies, tertiary institutions
and relevant not-for-profit groups. Each expert was asked to complete a
questionnaire on their allocated taxon, using the evaluation metrics outlined in