Healthy Rivers

As part of the Clean Water Campaign, the Healthy Rivers Project currently incorporates the Parramatta River Carp Competition and the Derwent River Riverkeepers.

Parramatta River Carp Competition

Parramatta City Council, Radio 2KY and Clean Up Australia are working together to organise an inaugural carp fishing competition on the Parramatta River on 4 November 2006.

The event is being organised to highlight the impact that carp have on the health of the Parramatta River and provides an opportunity for sports fishers and the local community to fish carp from the river. This event will start to develop a shared responsibility for the health and sustainability of the River.

About Carp

• Carp are not a native fish. They have invaded rivers all over Australia and have degraded the rivers to such an extent that affects the native fish populations.
  
• Carp can be identified by the two barbels or whiskers on either corner of their upper lip and can grow up to 17kg in Australian waters.
  
• Penalties of up to $150,000 apply to people who possess Carp or release them in to waterways.
  
• Carp can tolerate low oxygen levels and high salinities in water and account for 90% of the fish biomass in some areas of the Murray-Darling Basin.
  
• Carp feed by sucking up mud and plants from the bottom and blowing out what they don't want. This feeding behaviour (roiling) muddies the water and can uproot aquatic vegetation. 
  
• As part of their Healthy Waterways program, Parramatta City Council is working to restore native fish populations to the Parramatta River by installing fish ladders: devices that help the fish migrate up the river.
  
  For more information, please contact Gabrielle Kay, Clean Water Project Advisor on (02) 9692 1204.

Derwent River

Clean Up Australia supports the work of Riverkeepers who have been involved in the clean up of the river banks of the Derwent River in Tasmania, as well as the removal of star fish and car bodies from catchment areas.