By Margaret Maccoll
Lake Macdonald’s fish stockers are urging Noosa residents and visitors to go fishing in order to deplete the stock in the lake prior to the dam wall upgrade beginning in March 2020 which will necessitate the lowering of the water level.
Russell Manning of Lake Macdonald Freshwater Fishing Association said each year the lake is stocked with fingerlings of bas, yellow belly and Mary River cod which join a self-breeding population of Saratoga.
“We enhance the fishing. They’re all native fish,” he said.
Russell said the conditions in the lake do not normally allow for the fish to breed apart from occasions when winter flooding has carried fish over the spill way into the Mary River where they spawn.
Lake Macdonald is one of a number of dams in South East Queensland earmarked for upgrading as part of Seqwater’s Dam Improvement Program.
This will be the first major upgrade of the dam since the walls were raised in 1980. It will involve building a new spillway and reconstructing the existing earth embankments to better protect the dam against earthquakes and extreme floods.
Impact assessment
Following the collection in 2018 of feedback and an Impact Assessment Report Seqwater decided to delay the start of construction until 2020 and determined the best time of year to lower the lake’s water level is March to avoid the wet season, as well as aquatic fauna breeding seasons in and downstream of the lake.
Questions on the project can be emailed to lakemacdonald@seqwater.com.au
