Assessment of the condition of the Swan-Canning Estuary in 2012, based on the Fish Community Indices of estuarine condition

Abstract

The Swan River Trust has been working closely with other government agencies, local government authorities, community groups and research institutions to reduce nutrient and organic loading to the Swan-Canning river system. This is a priority issue for the waterway that has impacts on water quality, ecological health and community benefit. Until recently the Trust’s environmental monitoring program has been focused on water quality reporting in the estuary and catchment and it has long been envisaged that reporting on ecological health will be a key component of Riverpark reporting in the future. Reporting on changes in fish communities provides insight into the biotic integrity of the system and offers one measure to complement the existing water quality program Through a collaborative project between the Trust, Murdoch University, Department of Fisheries and Department of Water, Fish Community Indices have been developed for assessing the ecological condition of the Swan-Canning Estuary (Hallett et al. 2012, Hallett and Valesini 2012). These indices were developed for the shallow, nearshore waters of the estuary and also for its deeper, offshore waters, as the composition of the fish communities living in these different environments tends to differ