Case study
Box structures have been installed in the Hunter River to provide improved habitat conditions for the native bass to populate Along the banks of the Hunter River in New South Wales are two box structures, called ‘fish hotels’ that are helping to restore native fish habitats and other biodiversity. The fish hotels, primarily for bass, were built by the environmental team at Dartbrook mine in mid-2009 as part of the Hunter River Restoration Project. The project also involved creating 11 log jam structures to redirect the river flow.
Dartbrook environmental representative Ron Connolly said: “Now in the river, the box structures offer the bass a more complex habitat to populate, favouring their natural breeding requirements and giving them increased competitiveness over the introduced Carp species.
“When partnered with the fish hotels, the log jams change the water’s velocity and complexity, redirecting the river flow to the centre while also promoting pooling alongside the jams to protect bank stability and create more diverse habitat conditions.”
The fish hotels each weigh five tonnes, and were constructed above-ground and then lowered into place by a 160-tonne crane in July 2009. More than 1,000 logs were used to complete the project.
The box structures required about 40 logs to reach two metres in height, included two diagonal braces at the bases and were secured with rock fill and driven pins (wood poles).
The project was undertaken in partnership with the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and covered a six and a half kilometre stretch of the Hunter River where it meets with Dartbrook mine.
Dartbrook has been involved in the River Restoration Project for three years, and this has continued despite the mine being placed under care & maintenance in 2006.
The project has also included the River Red Gum project, through which Dartbrook successfully extended a remnant river red gum strand of 60 trees by planting more that 2,500 seedlings of the endangered Australian native trees along reaches of the Hunter River.