Headquarters Road Dam - Environmental Flows Assessment

The following document details an environmental flows analysis conducted for the proposed Headquarters Road dam in the upper Great Forester River catchment. The location of the dam and key sites is shown in Figure 1. The construction and operation of the proposed dam, coupled with the delivery of irrigation demand via the river channel, will affect the flow regime in the lower reaches of a tributary adjacent to Headquarters Road ('Headquarters Rd Creek') and the upper Great Forester River downstream of Springfield. The environmental flows (EFlows) analysis presented here was conducted using the approach developed by Freshwater Systems and DPIWE over the last 10 years, with both a set of monthly minimum flows and a minimum set of high/flood flow events (e.g. see Davies and Warfe 2002, Davies et al. 2002). This EFlow regime was developed in a manner consistent with the newly proposed framework in the draft Water Management Amendment Bill (2004) for assessment of environmental water requirements (EWR's), such that: 1. Environmental values are identified for the upper Great Forester; 2. Environmental objectives can be identified; 3. An EFlow regime is identified which can maintain the relevant values

Basslink Program: Downstream Poatina and King River Aquatic Biology – Flow relationships : Post-Basslink Monitoring Program data analysis report

A survey of aquatic macrophytes and macroinvertebrates in Brumbys Creek, the lower Macquarie River and the King River downstream of John Butters power station was conducted twice yearly in spring and autumn for 11 years between 2001/02 and 2011/12, following the requirements of the ‘Downstream Poatina’ component of the Basslink Monitoring Program. The aim of this program was to: - Detect changes in key biological variables through time and particularly prior to and following the commencement of Basslink operations; - Assess any significant departures in these variables during the post-Basslink period relative to the pre-Basslink period. This aspect of the larger Basslink monitoring program focussed on changes in: • the cover of aquatic plants in those stream reaches affected by the Poatina power station releases – Brumbys Creek weirs 1 and 3, and the lower Macquarie River in the vicinity of the Brumbys Creek junction; • the composition and abundance of macroinvertebrate communities in edge habitats of the lower Macquarie River channel in the vicinity of the Brumbys Creek junction, and in riffle habitats in Brumbys Creek and the King River. This report addresses the aim of identifying relationships between changes in macrophyte and macroinvertebrate variables and aspects of the flow regime. The biological components addressed by this report are: • % plant cover in Brumbys Creek weirs 1 and 3; • % plant cover and benthic macroinvertebrate composition along river channel edges in the lower Macquarie river (upstream and downstream of the Brumbys Creek junction); • Abundance and composition of riffle macroinvertebrate communities in the King River. In this report no flow-response analysis is reported for mussels in the lower Macquarie River. Inter-annual changes in mussel density and their broad relationship with ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ years are addressed in the main Downstream Poatina Basslink monitoring report (Davies and Cook 2012). Any further interpretation of flow vs. mussel density relationships is precluded by a lack of autecological knowledge for the species with regard to relationships between annual recruitment, habitat conditions and variations in larval host-fish densities. Biological data collection commenced in 2001/02 for the four years of the ‘pre-Basslink’ phase of the program. Basslink operations commenced across the Hydro Tasmania system just prior to the autumn 2006 sampling, during 2005/06. 2006/07 was the first full year of ‘post-Basslink’ operations and 2011/12 was the sixth and last post-Basslink year of biological monitoring

Cage Culture of Salmonids in Lakes: Best practice and risk management for Tasmania

Marine cage farming of salmonid fish (salmon and trout) is well established in Tasmania. There is an established regulatory framework, administered by the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment (DPIWE), which controls licenses, leases and environmental conditions on cage farms and associated land-based facilities. Similarly, there is an established land-based freshwater hatchery industry primarily focussed on producing juvenile/pre-smolt fish for the marine cage sector, but also involved in producing some table fish. Again, there is a regulatory framework for this sector, with licensing, EIA and EPMP requirements, administered by DPIWE and the Inland Fisheries Commission (IFC), now the Inland Fisheries Service (IFS). The aquaculture industry is seeking the establishment of cage salmonid culture facilities at several locations in freshwater lakes. There is, at present, no specific policy or regulatory framework in relation to this development. This report has been commissioned by IFC to address several key issues including: - identification and assessment of any environmental risks, including any disease management issues, that are relevant to a decision to allow or disallow freshwater lake cage culture in Tasmania; - investigation of best practice in the cage farming sector; - proposal of a best practice environmental management approach to lake cage farming, with an emphasis on methods to reduce potential risks and impacts; - documentation of overseas experiences with freshwater cage culture

Water Development Plan for Tasmania: Strategic environmental issues scoping report

A brief review of environmental management within the current water management scene in Tasmania shows that environmental issues should be managed much more effectively and efficiently. The principle problem is a lack of effective strategic or practical links between environmental and water management in the area of water development, planning and management. A suite of policy and management planning initiatives are recommended to address this problem. These initiatives include: - Establishing and resourcing the implementation of several new policies addressing key aquatic environmental issues. - Significant improvements to environmental management within Water Management Planning, including a focus on environmental outcomes. - Providing a framework and resources for active assessment, review and audit of the environmental performance of Water Management plans. Water management planning is seen as the centrepiece of effective management of environmental issues. However the existing planning process must be upgraded to ensure that environmental values are being effectively managed. In addition, an 'Australian-first' system of freshwater and estuarine comprehensive, adequate and representative 'CAR' reserves is recommended to allow effective conservation of key, representative aquatic ecosystems. Conservation of these representative aquatic ecosystems (which will include rivers and streams, wetlands, major groundwater springs, lakes and estuaries) will be achieved through a comprehensive review of aquatic environmental values. Where possible, representative systems will be identified within existing reserves and on public land. Where the remaining high conservation priority systems are identified on private and public lands, a series of planning and water management constraints are recommended, along with land management prescriptions and voluntary covenants aimed at maintaining key aquatic environmental values

A review of the flow and flow-related habitat requirements of Tasmanian native and introduced freshwater fish

This review describes what is known about the flow-related habitat requirements of Tasmanian native fish, as they relate to movement and migration, spawning, rearing and feeding. Brown trout are also included in this review, due to their widespread distribution and frequent dominance of Tasmanian stream fish assemblages. The Tasmanian stream fish fauna is comprised of some 28 species, the majority of which are migratory (diadromous, mainly catadromous), requiring free movement within the stream drainage network and access either to an estuary, the coast or a lake. Population densities of most species decline upstream from the sea, with brown trout, eels and, occasionally Galaxias brevipinnis, being dominant in middle to upper elevation drainage reaches (Davies 1989). This is a pattern also observed elsewhere in south-eastern Australia and New Zealand (Gehrke and Harris 2000, McDowall and Taylor 2000, Joy and Death 2004). Despite the high level of activity in the area of environmental flow management, information on flow requirements for south east Australian freshwater fish species is remarkably limited. The pool of Australian information in this area is very small, and sources from New Zealand and occasionally overseas are drawn on. In addition, requirements for habitat and flow characteristics cannot be readily separated. This review therefore identifies key aspects of habitat requirements as they relate to flow, both directly and indirectly, but does not attempt a full description of each species� ecological requirements. Habitat use by freshwater fish varies considerably between species. There are close relationships between the physical habitat used by fish and flow, both directly in terms of the relationship between the energetics of swimming and feeding and hydraulics, and indirectly by determining the distribution and composition of stream substrate, food resources, cover etc. This review briefly describes general aspects of fish and flow relationships, and then identifies what is known about habitat and flow requirements of Tasmanian riverine freshwater fish species. The Gobies, predominantly brackish water or estuarine species, are not discussed

Nutrient and Algal levels in the Little Denison River and their relationship to the Snowy Mountains trout farm facility

This report describes the results of a 15 month water quality and algal sampling study of the Little Denison River conducted by Peter Davies of Freshwater Systems and Dom O’Brien of Aquaculture, Management & Development P/L. Its primary aim is to: • describe the existing conditions in the Little Denison River; - to assess the relationships between nutrient levels and algal levels in the river; - to assess the degree of influence of the Snowy aquaculture facility on the algal levels; - to identify any thresholds in algal and nutrient levels which may be used in management to improve environmental outcomes for the river; and - to assess any relationships between nutrient levels and feed or stocking rates in the Snowy aquaculture facilit

TRCI Aquatic Life Sampling and Analysis – Phase 3. [ Report to NRM South, Tasmania]

Sampling for river condition assessment was conducted in three sub-catchments in September 2008 – the Lake, Flowerdale and Coal sub-catchments. Assessments at eight sites in each sub-catchment were conducted for Aquatic Life with the purpose of reporting on Aquatic Life condition at each site and also for the whole sub-catchment. In addition, the analytical and integration protocol for Aquatic Life was developed, fully constructed and implemented. This included: - defining reference condition for the new components – native fish community composition, macroinvertebrate abundance, algal cover and chlorophyll-a. - developing rules sets for deriving scores and ratings for individual metrics within each of the three components; - developing an overall rule set for the integration of the three components (fish, macroinvertebrate algae) for the calculation of an overall aquatic life score and assigning a condition rating; - constructing an Excel-based data entry and metric and index calculation tool. This report describes the sampling conducted and results of assessments from the three catchments, and provides details on the development of the analsyis and integration procedures for Aquatic Life, as well as responses to the Expert Panel comments on the Phase 2 Aquatic Life TR I repor

Blackman River: Woodbury Dam proposal Aquatic environmental assessment

A large dam structure is proposed for the Blackman River in the vicinity of Woodbury, whose primary role is provision of irrigation water supply, capturing winter-/spring flows. A substantial structure, 20 m in height of dam wall, is proposed and will flood some 1.25 km of river channel and 59 ha of cleared land at FSL. There will be 5400 ML storage at FSL, and the dam will deliver irrigation water in summer to some 10-12 farmers between Woodbury and the Macquarie river junction. Delivery will be jointly via downstream summer flows in the Blackman River from valved pipes, as well as via a raceway channel from the dam wall