Priority management actions to reduce the future impacts of existing invasive freshwater fish species in Australia.

John Koehn¹ and Rachel Mackenzie²

¹Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, Department of Sustainability and Environment, 123 Brown Street, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia, 3084.
²Queensland Fisheries Service, GPO Box 46, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4001.
Email: John.Koehn@nre.vic.gov.au

Whilst invasive fish species have received considerable attention both overseas and in Australia, most attention has focussed on the assessment of new invaders. The most likely impacts of invasive species however, will often come from species already present in a country, region or catchment. In general, the impacts of invasive freshwater fish species in Australia are not well quantified in either environmental or ecomonic terms and current management to reduce their impacts is either not occurring, not prioritised or does not cover all species. Whilst carp Cyprinus carpio have received the most attention, most other species have received little. Strategies have been developed for some species in some areas but across Australia overall there is a lack of recognition of invasive fish species and concern at a lack of coordinated on-the-ground management actions. Most management is undertaken by various state agencies with a lack of coordination across catchments and jurisdictional boundaries. Information for established species was updated from across Australia including: distributions, invasive attributes, likely competitive advantages over native fish species, transfer and dispersal mechanisms, potential for range expansion and impacts. This paper assesses the future likely impacts of alien freshwater fish species in Australia and recommends a list of priority species, areas and targeted actions to minimise these impacts.

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