For the fifth year running, Kedron Brook Catchment Network will hold its annual Fish Snapshot program during the month of April.

The program collects data on the abundance of native and exotic fish species within the Kedron Brook catchment.

New volunteers are welcome to participate in the surveys with full training provided on each day.

By participating in the activities people get an opportunity to not only learn about native and exotic fish, they will also learn about water quality and vegetation of the Brook.In the long term the data that is collected is useful for understanding changes in the populations of fish species and the impacts of current management actions such as revegetation and weed control programs on these species.

To date the results have shown that the maintenance and revegetation of streambank vegetation allows native fish species to compete more effectively with their introduced counterparts. Most of the introduced species such as Mosquito fish, Gambusia holbrooki and Swordtails, Xiphophorus helleri, are able to tolerate a wider range of environmental extremes, such as lower dissolved oxygen and higher water temperatures that are more commonly found in degraded stream areas.

Fish snapshot activities are conducted by a number of catchment groups across Brisbane each year.

The survey results are utilised by these groups and also provided to Brisbane City Council and University of Queensland for inclusion in their fauna databases and monitoring programs.

The dates and locations for the surveys are: