Know your fish
In 2007, Western CMA and NSW Department of Primary Industries undertook a collaborative project to assess the condition of instream and riparian habitat in the Darling River from Murtee to Ten Mile Rocks. This project produced a Habitat Management Plan that identified and prioritised actions to address the degradation of instream and riparian habitat and enhance aquatic ecosystems and the species within them.
During the community consultation phase of this project, some Aboriginal Elders of the Wilcannia community expressed concern that young people of Wilcannia were losing their cultural fishing knowledge, and that too many fish were being taken from the river. There was a desire within the local Aboriginal community to encourage sustainable fishing practices and to see the old ways and the old rules of the Paakantji promoted.
