Since 2014, about 60,000 perch fingerlings and 900 adults have been released into the Ovens by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning along with North East community organisations.

The project seeks to re-establish the threatened fish species after its numbers took a dive in the 1950s with the introduction of carp and the removal of logs, which provided shelter, from its habitat.

DELWP senior biodiversity officer Glen Johnson said the department was using lessons learnt from a program which ran for 10 years, from the mid-1990s, to boost trout cod numbers.

“That was based solely on fingerlings stocking,” he said.

“It takes time for them to grow to maturity so we’re shorting the whole process by doing a five-year program with the perch fingerlings by putting in juveniles and older fish too.”

Mr Johnson said the “two-pronged” attack would hopefully establish a self-sustainable population quicker than just releasing fingerlings.

“We’re really hopeful by this spring there'll be some natural breeding and recruitment,” he said.

A limited electrofishing study by the Arthur Rylah Institute in March caught 68 fish which would help researchers determine how well the program has been going so far.

Fingerlings have been released in February each year since the project started with juvenile and adult fish being relocated from Dartmouth Dam in April and May.

Mr Johnson said buy-in from fishing groups, the wider community and schools, which helped release the fish, was a big part of making the program a success.

“It’s great for the awareness of the value and need to protect native species,” he said.

Mr Johnson said he was positive about the species odds of recovering. The biosecurity officer said anglers could help DELWP by photographing and getting in contact if they caught any perch.

“There's quite a bit of talk on the carp virus that might come in a couple of years which will help tip the scales in favour of native fish,” he said.