Gingin Brook - Whakea Road

The condition of the site Gingin Brook - Whakea Road (site code: MR65GING1) in the upper catchment of the Gingin Brook  has been assessed several times, the latest full SWIRC assessment was between 5 and 6 March 2019. Additionally, as started below, water quality was logged over the 2020/21 dry season (December 2020 to May 2021).

Prior to 2019 the site (under code GINGIN01A) was assessed in the summers of 2010/11 and 2012/13, 2016/17 and 2018/19, and also in September 2008 as part of a national assessment of river condition – view report here.

The assessment was conducted using standard methods from the South West Index of River Condition. Primarily measures chosen for this assessment included logging of water quality (dissolved oxygen, temperature, electrical conductivity, and pH) every 30 mins over the dry season in 2012/13 and 2020/21. In the 2010/11, 2016/17 and 2018/19 and 2020/21 dry seasons water quality was only logged over 24h.

In February, March and April 2011 and in March 2017 the site was also assessed for fish and crayfish, aquatic habitat, vegetation, channel morphology, erosion, connectivity, local land use and flow.

NOTE: In 2011 and 2017 this site was separated into two sections, the current site (Gingin Brook - Whakea Road) and also a section approximately 2km downstream (site: Gingin Brook - Downstream Cheriton weir/GINGIN01B). The large pool between these two areas was excluded due to shallow depth and access issues. After 2017 only the Whakea Road site was sampled.

Five fish and two crayfish species were found at this site in 2019, no exotic species were collected. In 2017 the same species were collected, except for south-western goby, (Afurcagobius suppositus) that was found for the first time in 2019. Only one individual was collected, so this may have been a chance collection.

Western Minnow (Galaxias occidentalis) that was found for the first time in 2017, was again  collected in 2019.  Similar abundances of each species were found 2019 compared to 2017, the exception was for western pygmy perch (Nannoperca vittata) where there were higher abundances in 2019.

Juvenile fish (young of year) were only found in low abundances in all sampling events.  The general absence of juveniles which may be a function of timing and location of sampling, or be an indication of impaired reproduction; requires further investigation.

A list of species collected in 2019 is provided at the bottom of the page, click on the images to learn more about each species.

Note: only fish and crayfish are targeted by sampling methods, however where other species were caught and/or observed they are included below.