Second life given to struggling fish

Some fish, that otherwise would have died, have been rescued and released into Quart Pot Creek.

NEW HOME: Nick Donges and his crew release some fish into Quart Pot Creek. Picture: Matthew Purcell

SOME fish, that otherwise would have died, have been rescued and released into Quart Pot Creek.

A team, that includes Nick Donges, Nick Cosmo and Rylan Jurd, continue to scour the region for fish fighting for survival in rapidly declining rivers and dams.

Last Thursday they released dozens of yellow belly, golden perch, silver perch and a monster Murray cod into the creek.

"They came from the Severn River down in Glen Aplin,” Nick Donges from Granite Belt Fish Hatchery said.

"I got a phone call two days ago from a bloke that's a farmer down there saying that he could see cod nosed up in the shallows.

"So I raced down and grabbed as many as I could. Yesterday (last Wednesday), there was more on their last legs basically.

"I pretty much went and scooped them off the edge and they'd pretty much died,” Mr Donges said.

Mr Donges said farmers were getting so desperate for water that they're having to pump in from any source they can.

"They're pumping out every last drop, so depends on the circumstance, but you can get there too late and they'll all be dead,” he said.

"No one is pumping this water (Quart Pot Creek) so they should stay there until we get the next good rain. It also gives a good chance for the anglers to come and catch them.

"There's a few more dams coming up we know of,” he said. Mr Donges said he'd restock that part of the river for nothing once we get some decent rainfall.