Record your feral fish information

A free resource for landholders, community groups, recreational fishers and biosecurity organisations, FeralFishScan is a purpose-built community website and app for recording feral fish sightings and evidence.

Since European settlement, the deliberate or accidental introduction of non-native fish into Australian freshwater ecosystems has resulted in the establishment of many populations of pest fish species.

These species are broadly considered as ‘pests’ because they threaten native fish species, river health and aquatic ecosystems by:

• Degrading or compounding the degradation of aquatic ecosystems by stirring up sediment, undermining riverbanks and increasing nutrient levels
• Feeding on or destroying native aquatic plants
• Competing for native fish food and habitat and preying on native fish or frog eggs
• Spreading disease and parasites that can adversely impact native species.

Pests such as European carp – also called common carp – redfin perch, eastern gambusia, oriental weatherloach and goldfish are listed as ‘noxious’ in NSW by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and are listed as a pest species by the ACT Government.

FeralFishScan is a free resource

FeralFishScan is a free resource for farmers, the public, community groups, Landcare, local councils, professional pest controllers and biosecurity groups.

Anyone can use FeralFishScan to record information about pest fish.

The more information you record, the more useful FeralFishScan will become for planning future fish management.

You can use FeralFishScan to monitor and record fish distribution, including sightings and evidence of fish, report impacts fish cause and where control efforts have been focused.

For more information, visit feralscan.org.au or contact Peter West of the NSW Department of Primary Industries Centre for Invasive Species Solutions on feralscan@feralscan.org.au or 0407 622 191.