Region: BENALLA/MANSFIELD

Legal Number: LEGL/94-20

Plantation: Delatite

94-20 April 2001: Pine plantation behind Goughs Bay.

Conservation Priority: Medium

Plantation within Australian Newsprint Mill (ANM) Ltd area of supply.

Plantation within Dominance Industries (Alpine MDF Industries) area of supply.

Plantation within D & R Henderson/Monsbent area of supply.

Strathbogies and Central North East Plantation Map here

This plantation was very likely to be aerially sprayed with 2,4,5-T between 1968 and 1977. The Dioxin TCDD may still exist in soil in this plantation. For more historical data on 2,4,5-T click here. For more information concerning the continuing health crisis concerning 2,4,5-T please forward to here.

Herbicides Used by Hancock in Pine Plantations - North East Region Victoria

Water Catchment Area: Lake Eildon Environs Catchment. Land Use Determination (LUD) 2/3/77. LUD’s replaced with Special Area Plan’s under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994.

LAKE EILDON SUPPLIES WATER TO EILDON AND BONNIE DOON

Responsible Authority: Delatite Shire Council

Plantation Catchment: Creeks flowing into Lake Eildon.

Catchment Managment Authority: Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority

Hancock Watch Site visit Apr 01: Plantation located south west of Gough's Bay. No pine harvested at this date. Some of the slopes appeared somewhat steep, potentially leading to erosion problems. Harvesting will also impact on the visual amenity of Gough's Bay.

Eildon Lake, Eildon: A deep RWC storage (maximum depth 79m, average depth 24m) surrounded by forested country except around the Delatite Arm and Bonnie Doon, which are cleared. Large fluctuations in water level. Lake has relatively shallow areas. Popular angling water. The lake is naturally stocked with trout from abundant spawning in inflowing rivers. Occasional releases of trout by the Department. Carp were first taken in 1981 during Departmental surveys. The suitability of much of the lake for carp and other cyprinid fishes is shown by carp forming 29% of total catch and 48% of total weight of fish taken in the 1990 survey, and the equally dramatic rise in the abundance of roach. Most common angling fish is redfin commonly 1kg or better. Brown trout are plentiful to 2.6 kg, with lesser numbers of rainbow trout which rarely exceed 1.5kg. Large numbers of goldfish, possibly an occasional Macquarie Perch, increasingly abundant tench, some river Blackfish, and an occasional Murray Cod in the Delatite, Big and Goulburn River arms. The Department stocks Murray Cod into the lower Delatite River and occasionally into the lake. Macquarie Perch were once abundant in the lake and inflowing rivers but declined dramatically in the 1960's. The Department is currently translocating mature Macquarie Perch from Lake Dartmouth in an attempt to restore the species. Generally rainbow trout are caught in the central section of the lake, well away from inflowing rivers. Brown trout however, are usually taken close to the rivers . . . Recent surveys indicate mercury levels in fish (redfin particularly) from the Goulburn and Big River Arms are such that continuous monitoring is required for public health reasons. The Health Department has recommended against eating more than one meal a week of fish taken from these areas of the lake.

Source: A Guide to the Inland Angling Waters of Victoria by BR Tunbridge, PL Rogan, CA Barnham. Department Conservation and Environment. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, 123 Brown St, Heidelberg, 3084. (4th ed - 1991)

Macquarie Perch - Western Population: Originally widespread throughout the upper, cooler waters of the Murray-Darling. Now the only substantial, self-sustaining populations occur in the banked up waters of the man made Lake Dartmouth on the Mitta Mitta River in North Eastern Victoria and a population translocated to the Yarra River near Melbourne in the 1920s. Small remnant (and occasionally breeding) populations occur throughout its original range.

Ex-brood fish from the Snob's Creek Fisheries Research Station (originally captured from Lake Dartmouth) have been liberated in Lake Eildon (also man made) in an attempt to re-establish the species in the lake and the rivers above it. This attempt has been accompanied by a total ban on the taking of Macquarie Perch from the lake and its tributaries. Anecdotal evidence on the effectiveness of this ban has been mixed. It is expected that the success of this experiment will be determined in the next few years.

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