Who doesn’t love talking about fish?! That’s Adam Royle’s take on life, so he’s pretty excited about new fish passageways that will help scores of native fish species move between freshwater and marine waterways in the Hinchinbrook area.

Adam and other members of the Hinchinbrook Local Marine Advisory Committee have been working alongside OzFish with species surveys along Palm Creek where a zig-zagging fish passageway was built at Ingham’s Victoria Mill Weir a year and a half ago. They’re also working on a new project that’ll hopefully lead to a fish passageway being constructed near the Tyto Wetlands in Ingham.

He says the first two Palm Creek fish surveys have returned great results.

“We’ve seen a good number of species, including freshwater prawns, eels and spangled perch. There is absolutely no doubt that fish are moving between the upper and lower parts of the weir, something they haven’t had the opportunity to do at this scale since the weir was constructed.’’

The zig-zagging fish passageway is a series of 26 ramps and ponds or pools that fish can work their way up to get past the weir.

“That’s important to a lot of species, including mangrove jack and barramundi, because they spawn in the marine environment, the juveniles move up the river systems to find freshwater nurseries, and then when they’re of age, they need to return to the marine environment to start the cycle all over again.

“Fish passage barriers are a real threat to fish numbers and diversity.”

Surveys also show where improvements, or “tweaks”, can be made to the design of a passageway.

“We’ve been helping to set-up and remove short-term fish traps, and do fish species counts. It’s been great for our members, with helpers ranging from retirees to teenagers including my daughter Hope who absolutely loves helping with the surveys.”

The Hinchinbrook Local Marine Advisory Committee (LMAC) has recently partnered with OzFish on a different project that will include fish surveys at Tyto Wetlands and in the Herbert River, and initial design work for a rock ramp fishway near Tyto Wetlands. It’s funded through the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

“The Hinchinbrook LMAC identified an issue where overflow from the Herbert River and localised rain fills up a water way adjacent to the Tyto wetlands. Fish move up through the flooded waterway but hit a barrier before entering the wetlands and can’t go any further.

Forget strolling trails and spotting platypus… Instead, picture bushland choked with weeds and a creek clogged with grasses – and you’ll have a good idea of what Yungaburra’s Lower Peterson Creek area looked like a little over two decades ago.

That was just before the Yungaburra Landcare Group formed.

“Locals were concerned about water quality. And the creek banks were an almost impenetrable mass of lantana and other rampant weeds,’’ the group’s current president David Blair says.

“The group secured funding from the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust and started linking patches of remnant rainforest from the road bridge at the town’s western entrance downstream for about two kilometres.”

That was the start of what can only be described as an outstanding success story. It was long before David’s time with the group but the transformation of Lower Peterson’s Creek into a popular tourist attraction and recreation area for locals has been well-documented. It has also led to multiple awards for Yungaburra Landcare, which was initially known as the Eastern Tinaroo Catchment Landcare Group.

David says members were inspired by larger-scale work further upstream through another local community group – TREAT. The Yungaburra group planned a staged revegetation project within the capacity of the small volunteer workforce, with an emphasis on expanding Mabi forest, an endangered plant community that is only found on the Atherton Tablelands.

The original revegetation project has now been completed – despite setbacks brought about by frosts, flooding and even drought-like conditions – and the forest has a flourising canopy. Rough paths once used for watering access are now well-worn walking tracks spanning 2.5km of creek frontage, and a platypus viewing platform, suspension bridge and picnic areas have been added.

David says one of the keys to the group’s success was “concentrating on getting it right the first time”.

“The main focus in the early days of each stage was the clean-up. Before each planting there were many hours of mechanical and chemical weed eradication followed by soil preparation and assembly of seedlings, mulch, fertiliser, irrigation and manpower for the actual planting day.”

“Most plantings were timed to coincide with wet season.

“Another big thing was this group’s unwavering commitment to follow-up maintenance. From the beginning, volunteers met each Friday morning to keep on top of the maintenance program, and we still meet on Fridays for mowing, weed clearing, track maintenance and the occasional fill-in plantings. Weeds are controlled by slashing, mowing and systematic spraying routines.”

When Karri and Mark Colbridge spotted a rarely seen mimic octopus, it was a highlight of already hugely fulfilling volunteer roles with the Low Isles Preservation Society.

The pair was in shallow waters off Low Island and the tiny octopus was only the second to be documented in Australian waters. That was eight years ago, and it is also the last to have been officially recorded.

“It was a very low tide – we knew what a mimic looked like so we ran to get a camera,’’ Mark recalls. “We watched until it scuttled over a bit of reef, jumped down a hole and disappeared. It was a lucky find for us.”

The society’s vice-president sees time on the Low Isles very much as a privilege.

Preservation Society members fill in as caretakers and help in day-to-day management of Low and Woody Island and their inner reef – the site of the first detailed scientific study of a coral reef anywhere in the world.

In the 1920s more than 20 natural scientists spent a year studying the life processes of coral and reef formation on the Low Isles. The expedition created a set of baseline data – in six large volumes published by the British Natural History Museum – which is still used today in studies of the Great Barrier Reef.

The Isles are also one of the last major strongholds for Torres Strait pigeons nesting on the Great Barrier Reef, and they are one of three GBR locations where these migratory birds are counted on a regular basis.

“Woody Island is closed to the public between September and March, when the pigeons are there,’’ Dr Colbridge said. “We help to protect these islands, their historical significance and the sea and bird life as much as possible.

“At the moment there is no paid caretaker, so we are the fill-in caretakers for a period. Over the years there has been weather reporting, general maintenance, beach clean-ups at Woody Island and public contact with people who visit the isles. Volunteers also help with the Torres Strait pigeon counting surveys.”

The society was formed in 1992 because of the isles’ closeness to a well-populated coastline, increasing visitor numbers and the automation of their lighthouse, leaving the destination without a live-in lightkeeper-caretaker. Members lobbied and secured a $1.5 million grant to establish a caretaker position and an indigenous ranger program through the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.