Dunyak Moira community fishing pond in Merrigum open
Two unused waterways have been repurposed in the Goulburn Valley, with calls for the model to be replicated across Victoria.
Two unused waterways in the Goulburn Valley have been given a new lease of life, in a project recreational fishers say could be replicated all over Victoria.
Dunyak Moira - “fishing lake” in Yorta Yorta language - is a new community-accessible fishing site in Merrigum, commissioned through a partnership between Goulburn Valley Water and the Burnanga Indigenous Fishing Club.
Burnanga Indigenous Fishing Club president Corey Walker said the project would allow them to provide activities to youth and pass their fishing knowledge down to younger generations.
“Through our club we want to provide activities on caring for Country and culture through fishing; and to encourage more people to get outdoors to help improve mental health and wellbeing and Dunyak Moira will help us to achieve that goal,” said Mr Walker.
The site transformation began in mid-2021, with two lagoons that had sat empty for more than 20 years reconfigured to a facility complete with fishing platforms and a connecting bridge.
The lakes were filled in April last year, with authorities relocating almost 100 native fish including Murray cod and Golden Perch into the new site, with a 108cm cod caught on the opening day on Wednesday.
Community leaders are calling for more buy-in from councils and government to use the unique project as a model for transforming similarly unused assets across the state.
VR Fish executive officer Ben Scullin said the project was a “perfect example of how you can repurpose older infrastructure” to generate health, community and regional economic benefits.
“There are current missed opportunities. Don’t drain [the ponds]. The economic outcomes that such a project can generate for Merrigum … it will have regional impact,” he said.
GVW is working on a similar project in Trawool to open next month. But GVW’s operations manager Steven Nash said currently there was little interest from local councils, and that it was up to water agencies to drive the change.
“I don’t think councils are thinking about it a lot, we’ve tried to get them involved in two different projects, and there’s been no real buy-in,” he said.
“Hopefully [this project] can influence others to reconsider what their retired assets can be used for.”
The lakes have been filled with over 100 large native fish relocated in partnership with the Victorian Fisheries Authority as part of dewatering programs across northern Victoria, with the fish to be catch-and-release only to protect the ponds’ inhabitants.
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