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  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Amy Pilmore checks nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Amy Pilmore checks nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
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    Andrew 'Cobba' Harrison and Josh Griffiths with spiny crayfish in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths with a spiny crayfish in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey. The native crayfish isn't usually found in the river.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths with a native spiny crayfish in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey. The crayfish isn't native to the river.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths checks nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
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    Josh Griffiths released a male platypus in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey. Kevin was first caught in 2019 when he was a juvenile. He’s grown into a healthy, robust young adult!
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths released a male platypus in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey. Kevin was first caught in 2019 when he was a juvenile. He’s grown into a healthy, robust young adult!
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths released a male platypus in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey. Kevin was first caught in 2019 when he was a juvenile. He’s grown into a healthy, robust young adult!
  • Hero image
    Josh Griffiths and Amy Pilmore check nets in the MacKenzie River in a platypus survey.
  • Hero image
    Big Kev.

PHOTOS: Grampians platypus rescue plan starts on high

A platypus conservation breakfast at Wartook tomorrow will workshop ideas on expanding and ensuring the long-term survival of the Wimmera’s fragile platypus population.

Wimmera Catchment Management Authority and Laharum Landcare group invited the community to the event to discuss platypus-recovery activities as part of live surveys and eDNA sampling that started on Monday.

The breakfast workshop comes after early survey results reconfirmed the presence of platypus in MacKenzie River in the northern Grampians.

Researchers captured a male on Monday night, which they had first caught as a juvenile in September 2019 and had now grown into an adult.



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After listing the species as threatened and vulnerable in January, the State Government announced an initial cash injection of $250,000 for immediate restoration works at key habitat sites across Victoria. 

It announced a further $50,000 to develop a long-term action plan to ensure the future of the unique mammal.

 

Previous surveys of a Wimmera platypus population were in spring 2019, with last year’s monitoring postponed due to COVID.

The authority has been studying platypus in the MacKenzie River for 20 years. For the past 12 months the Wimmera’s environmental watering program has focused on where the platypuses are breeding.

CMA water planning and policy officer Greg Fletcher said the authority was exploring increased monitoring and translocation among ways to secure the long-term survival of platypus in the Wimmera. 

“The work we’ve been doing to date with environmental watering has been having a positive impact and this population is growing, but if we want to see platypus move into other parts of the Wimmera River system we need to do more,” he said.

 

Wildlife ecologist Josh Griffiths, who has studied the Wimmera population since 2009, said he was excited to be checking in.

“If we want platypus in the Wimmera catchment in 100 years’ time we can’t just rely on this localised, small population in the MacKenzie River,” he said.

“We hope they’ll grow and start dispersing into the Wimmera River itself and we need to consider all options available to help facilitate that.” 

Mr Griffiths said platypus monitoring and long-term planning had provided crucial data for the formal recognition of platypus as a threatened species. 

The Wimmera was also the first area to trial eDNA sampling for platypus in 2014.

The sampling has become an important monitoring tool for a variety of species.

The entire April 21, 2021 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!