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River flows affect the growth of a tropical finfish in the wet-dry rivers of northern Australia, with implications for water resource development

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Abstract

Freshwater is a critical input to estuaries but is under increasing demand to support upstream human activities. In this study, otolith biochronology was used to quantify the relationship between river discharge and juvenile growth rates of barramundi (Lates calcarifer) in three regions of the Gulf of Carpentaria in northern Australia. In all regions, river discharge had a strong positive effect on juvenile growth rates. Models were also developed which incorporated the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) and the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO). SOI values corresponding to La Niña events had strong positive consequences for juvenile barramundi growth rates in all regions, and the intensity of positive wet season MJO pulses had a strong positive effect on growth rates in the perennially flowing river, but not the intermittently flowing rivers. The consequences of three hypothetical water development scenarios were estimated for the perennial river. The model predicted a 12%, 8% and 1% reduction in annual barramundi growth rates under proposed scenarios for 18%, 8%, and 3% reduction in river discharge, respectively. Fish growth is a robust, quantitative metric that can be monitored pre and post water resource development to identify the least impactful development scenario and monitor its compliance and success through time.

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Data availability

The otolith increment dataset generated and analysed during the current study is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14751747. River flow data for the Mitchell region is available via the Northern Australia Water Resources Assessment river model (https://nawra-river.shinyapps.io/river/). River flow data for the Gilbert and Flinders region are not publicly available at this time. They can be made available upon request to Queensland Hydrology, Queensland Department of Environment and Science. SOI and MJO datasets are publicly available from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (bom.gov.au/climate/current/soihtm1.shtml) and the United States National Weather Service (cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_mjo_index/pentad.html), respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This project was jointly funded through the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program. Particular thanks to Dr Claire Krause of Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth Australia program (www.ga.gov.au/dea) for providing Water Observations from Space data for initial exploratory analyses. Digital Earth Australia makes public good data from the United States and European Commission readily available to Australian government and industry. Thanks to Dr Chris Ndehedehe for providing GRACE and SWS remotely sensed datasets for initial exploratory analyses in support of this work, and to two anonymous reviewers for their input on the manuscript.

Funding

This project was jointly funded through the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program.

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  1. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Agri-Science Queensland, Northern Fisheries Centre, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    Susannah M. Leahy

  2. Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Agri-Science Queensland, EcoSciences Precinct, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Julie B. Robins

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J. Robins conceived of the project, secured funding, collected data, and contributed to the manuscript. S. Leahy collected data, carried out analyses, and contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Susannah M. Leahy.

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The animal remains used in this study were donated, and the life and death of all animals were not altered due to the subsequent scientific use of the remains. Therefore under Queensland Government policy, no animal ethics committee approval was required to carry out this study (www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/livestock/animal-welfare/animals-science/activities/dead-animals).

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Leahy, S.M., Robins, J.B. River flows affect the growth of a tropical finfish in the wet-dry rivers of northern Australia, with implications for water resource development. Hydrobiologia 848, 4311–4333 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04641-7

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