The protocols taught align with the Fish and Crayfish component of the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), Southwest Index of River Condition (SWIRC) approach. SWIRC methods are designed to be standardised, replicable, cost-effective, and scientifically defensible for routine river health assessments and management use.

The course will also emphasise that fish and crayfish community data provide an integrated measure of river condition. As highlighted in SWIRC method documentation, fish and crayfish are valuable indicators because they:

occur high in aquatic food webs (integrating multiple pressures across trophic structure)
are relatively long-lived and mobile (reflecting conditions over time and broader spatial scales)
respond in specific ways to changes in water quality, habitat and flow (supporting diagnosis of likely pressures)
are widely distributed (supporting comparability across river systems)
are relatively straightforward to sample and identify, enabling capability building across organisations with varying experience and budgets

The course will support participants to plan and undertake field monitoring safely and ethically, and to record data in a manner suitable for long-term programs and reporting.

Offerings: All