Murray Cod Modelling

Murray cod is perhaps the Basin’s most iconic species, but populations are declining and under threat. Murray cod are listed as nationally threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Murray cod also sustain an important inland recreational fishery, valuable to many Basin communities.  Therefore the management of this species requires a balance between actions for a threatened species (i.e. rehabilitate populations) and those to sustain recreational fishing take.

The objectives of this project were to:

• Develop a computer model (or models) to represent the population dynamics of Murray cod populations under alternate management options.
• Develop various management scenarios in relation to size and bag limits and potential recovery times from overfishing, fish kills and other management or environmental scenarios which may affect Murray cod populations.