RESEARCHERS are using aerial photos in the latest project to revive ailing native fish numbers in Victorian Waterways.
The Victorian Government's Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) are funding the research project, which will include the Little Murray, Loddon and Avoca rivers, at a local level.
The Murray River is excluded from the study because it is part of New South Wales.
Fish ecologist Jarod Lyon said 25,000 kilometres of Victorian rivers and streams would undergo high definition aerial photography to find fish habitats, most commonly timber snags.
Starting in Wangaratta on Wednesday, the team will arrive to conduct fieldwork in and around the Swan Hill region from about mid-May.
"The information will help river managers to address the loss of snags and other habitat in our waterways, which has become a big problem for native fish species including the threatened Murray Cod and Trout Cod," Mr Lyon said.
"The result will be a map of all our rivers and streams that will show the current condition of in-stream habitat, information which is vital for future protection and restoration actions."
The research team will then send out ground teams to confirm the location of the snags using high resolution GPS and sonar devices.
The project is also assessing fish populations using electro-fishing, where fish are stunned through high voltage electricity, weighed, measured and returned to the waterway.
The Guardian fishing columnist Andrew Ash said fish habitats were very important, but not the biggest challenge facing native fish in the Swan Hill region.
"We have probably the best native fishery in Australia... the only reason (natives) are in decline locally is because of the blackwater event in February 2011.
"Largely (this) didn't affect Victoria, apart from the Loddon river, which wasn't known as a cod fishery anyway.
"In the last 30 years they haven't removed any timber, other parts of Victoria have probably been more affected."
"We don't really have a Murray cod fishery that's good in Victoria, apart from Gunbower creek in Cohuna Koondrook, though I think it could do with a few more logs."
He said local fishing groups had long been lobbying for more native fish habitats, and fish restocking efforts in the Kerang Lakes district was to be congratulated.
The research is in its early stages and is expected to finish about June 2013, Mr Lyon said.
Future generations are the target audience for the 'habitat map'.
"The Murray Cod is hit and miss -- in some areas its' doing well, in others not so well.
"Collecting the data, we can go back in 10, 20 or 100 years and see how that's changed over time.
"We've done our job properly if we get them (Murray and Trout cod) de-listed."
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