3 Fish spawning and Short-term question: Objectives: Enables the explicit recruitment association of fish spawning What did CEW contribute to Compare and contrast spawning response to spawners) and recruitment with flow. reproduction (spawning and various environmental water deliveries. recruitment) of golden perch and silver Provides complementary Compare and contrast recruitment success in perch? information at different life response to various CEW deliveries. stages on three time scales Long-term question: Compare and contrast the timing of spawning (near real-time, yearly and What did CEW contribute to the and source (i.e. natal origin) of new recruits in 5-yearly) to inform adaptive resilience of golden perch and silver response to various environmental water management. Historical perch populations? deliveries. data from SARDI will Identify potential associations between provide extended temporal reproduction (spawning and recruitment) and interpretation. environmental water delivery (e.g. magnitude, Allows evaluation of CEW at timing and source). both local and Basin-scale, Determine population connectivity between and addresses both regions (e.g. whether larvae spawned in the Selected Area and Basin- Goulburn recruiting to LMR Selected Area ecological objectives populations). Larval abundance data Hypotheses: obtained by tows may Increases in flow above regulated entitlement complement Category 2 flow (in-channel or overbank) in spring–summer indicators in other Selected will promote the spawning and recruitment (to Areas. YOY) of golden perch and silver perch. Multiple of enhanced spring–summer flow will increase the resilience of golden perch and sliver perch populations in the LMR.
3 Fish spawning and recruitment spawners) Short-term question: What did CEW contribute to reproduction (spawning and recruitment) of golden perch and silver perch? Long-term question: What did CEW contribute to the resilience of golden perch and silver perch populations? Objectives: Compare and contrast spawning response to various environmental water deliveries. Compare and contrast recruitment success in response to various CEW deliveries. Compare and contrast the timing of spawning and source (i.e. natal origin) of new recruits in response to various environmental water deliveries. Identify potential associations between reproduction (spawning and recruitment) and environmental water delivery (e.g. magnitude, timing and source). Determine population connectivity between regions (e.g. whether larvae spawned in the Goulburn recruiting to LMR Selected Area populations). Hypotheses: Increases in flow above regulated entitlement flow (in-channel or overbank) in spring–summer will promote the spawning and recruitment (to YOY) of golden perch and silver perch. Multiple of enhanced spring–summer flow will increase the resilience of golden perch and sliver perch populations in the LMR. Enables the explicit association of fish spawning and recruitment with flow. Provides complementary information at different life stages on three time scales (near real-time, yearly and 5-yearly) to inform adaptive management. Historical data from SARDI will provide extended temporal interpretation. Allows evaluation of CEW at both local and Basin-scale, and addresses both Selected Area and ecological objectives Larval abundance data obtained by tows may complement Category 2 indicators in other Selected Areas. Basin-