I RECENTLY went down the coast to visit
some old fishing haunts and was disappointed to
see the weir still blocking Wyong Creek at the
old butter factory. A fish ladder has been built at
the weir at a great expense to help the local bass
population. Travel downstream to spawn but on
the return trip upstream the adults and
fingerlings have to run the gauntlet of the local
shag population. There could be 20 or more,
plus other herons and egrets stationed at the
front of the ladder. The design of the ladders
needs to be changed and some netting or mesh
covering the race up the ladder and some grids at
the entrance as they use in front of stormwater
drains f lowing into our waterways.
Brian Bevan – Nambucca Heads, NSW.NSW Fisheries responds: The Wyong Weir
full-width rock-ramp fishway was constructed in
1993 and was one of the first of its design in
Australia. The fishway utilises a series of
engineered ridges and pools built out of rock that
aimed to facilitate fish migration. By the late
2000s, a number of issues had been identified
with the rock ramp fishway that reduced its
effectiveness in passing fish, particularly at low
flows. With upgrades proposed to Wyong Shire
Council’s water management system, an
opportunity arose to upgrade the fishway in 2010.
NSW DPI was consulted along with Fishway
Consulting Services, the fishway expert inAustralia. Following an extensive investigative
process, the agreed design was the construction of a
trapezoidal fishway built within the existing
full-width rock-ramp fishway. This would
provide cost-effective fish passage at low flows,
while the remaining rock-ramp fishway would
pass fish during higher river flows. Unlike other
engineered fishways such as the vertical slot, the
trapezoidal fishway does not have grid mesh over
its top. The reason for this is that the grid mesh
would significantly reduce the effectiveness of the
fishway when downstream water levels are
elevated by inhibiting fish from being able to
enter the fishway. The lack of grid mesh does
enable the poaching of fish by birds from within
the fishway; however, this impact is viewed as
minor when compared to the benefits of the
current design. Grid mesh would not affect the
amount of bird predation occurring downstream
of the fishway.
Matthew Gordos, NSW DPI.MY name is Alan Ezekiel and I have been
fishing since I was eight years old. I am now
37 and still love my fishing. I’ve been in
competitions and also fished for NSWFCA,
and am a member of a fishing club also.
I could rave on about myself but I am here to
tell you about my wife and see if you’re
interested. My wife Nat is Thai and has only
been here for nine months. Nat had no idea
about fishing. I showed her how to catch
fish and now Nat is winning competitions
and catching lots of fish. Basically you
show Nat one time and that’s it, she will
catch fish. Nat fishes from beaches to
estuary and also can pump nippers. The
reason I am writing is that I think it will be
very good for the fishing community to
show that women can catch fish, also it
may be good to use Nat for a promo photo
shoot or something else to do with fishing
as she loves it. As they say if you do not ask
you will never know.
Alan Ezekiel – via email.Ladder for the birds
MY FISHING WIFE
E VERY STAR LE T TER WRITER RECEIVES
A COOL BIG FISH GR APHIC SHIRTStar
Letter
OF THE MONTH
80 | fishingworld.com.au | January 2015LETTERS