Narran Lakes remained inundated to varying degrees throughout 2024-2025. This provided the opportunity to fill a significant gap in the understanding of the role Narran Lakes plays in supporting fish communities.

In October 2024 and again in May 2025, Austral Research and Consulting conducted fish sampling at Narran Lakes on behalf of UNSW, marking the first surveys since those conducted by Rolls and Wilson in 2008.

Twelve sites were sampled. The methods and locations replicated those of the Rolls and Wilson surveys, with the addition of one survey site and the use of electrofishing for the second survey conducted in May.

Almost 6000 fish were encountered – five native and three introduced species. Bony bream was the most abundant native fish with 3680 identified, and the European carp was the most abundant introduced species.

Golden perch were found at all sites. A total of 236 were captured, including recruits around 20mm, young-of-year between 50-70mm and mature fish around 410mm.

The team will now compare these results to those from 2008 in combination with inundation and river flow data. to understand changes over this period and fish response to flow conditions.

The team processing samples at Narran Lakes’ Clear Lake  (Image: Lightning Ridge Area Opal Reserve).