Eggs from the critically endangered Moroka galaxias have been laid in a captive breeding program for the first time at the Victorian Fisheries Authority's (VFA) Snobs Creek Conservation Hatchery.
VFA Chief Executive Officer Travis Dowling said this marks a significant turning point in the journey to save the species, found in a single population in the Alpine National Park.
"Small-bodied native fish like Moroka galaxias are the foundation of healthy aquatic ecosystems and the new conservation hatchery at Snobs Creek is making projects like this possible," Mr Dowling said.
"Our next steps are to establish two new populations of Moroka galaxias in rivers where they've become locally extinct, putting our eggs in different baskets for their protection."
Broodstock were sourced by the staff from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action's Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research (ARI) from a two-kilometre stretch of headwater stream across their remaining range in a tributary of the Wonnangatta River near Dargo.
The small population of fish was then transported to Snobs Creek in insulated containers with a supply of oxygen. The eggs were laid and fertilised by the broodstock and will go through a period of incubation before hatching as juvenile fry, which will take 2–3 years to reach maturity and grow to approximately 8 cm in size.
They join several other endangered or critically endangered aquatic species from across Victoria being bred at the conservation hatchery, including the Glenelg freshwater mussel, the south-western Victorian blackfish, and the southern purple-spotted gudgeon.
Moroka galaxias are one of ten species the VFA will be restocking and recovering in the next decade as part of the 10inTen plan, in partnership with ARI. 10inTen includes several species of galaxias listed by the Commonwealth Government as critically endangered, meaning one step away from extinction, including McDowall's galaxias, Yalmy galaxias, West Gippsland galaxias and Avon galaxias.
Captive breeding populations, alongside restocked wild populations, mean additional safeguards in the case of future fire, flood, drought or predator invasion events, moving them away from the brink of extinction.
The VFA's conservation program works in partnership with research institutes, catchment management authorities, Traditional Owners and industry and is made possible by $2.7 million funding from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Victorian Environmental Water Holder and other agencies.
