Snags are Good Homes for Native Fish

These particular snags are not sausages! They are dead trees that have fallen into rivers and provide shelter for fish and other aquatic creatures.

In the past, dead trees were taken out of rivers and waterways in case they damaged boats, or because they were thought to make floods worse.

"However, snags are now viewed in a different light - research has shown that they are vital for healthy functioning rivers," said Dr Craik, the Chief Executive of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, when she launched the project at Corowa. "Over the next three years dead timber will be put back into the river to act as habitat for fish to spawn, feed and hide from predators."

Woody snags are vital for the survival and growth of many of our native fish, such as Golden Perch, Murray Cod and Trout Cod, which are becoming threatened species because of the lack of safe hiding places.

The re-snagging project (putting snags back into rivers) is the biggest of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. Three sections of the river, with a total length of over 100km, will be re-snagged, creating a safe habitat for fish to swim and breed.