85 years later, this predator has found its home back in the Kiewa River

About 50 people turned out to Boyds Bridge, near Gundowring, on Friday morning, May 24, to help release the Macquarie perch back into the Kiewa River.

The fish were once widely distributed throughout the Murray-Darling Basin, before land use changes and introduced species saw their decline, eventually being taken out by a sediment slug from the 1939 Black Friday bushfires.

Arthur Rylah Institute principal research scientist Jarod Lyon said the program had seen success in the Ovens River.

"So on the back of work in the Ovens where we've got some translocation and stocking programs into that over the last 10 years, and is now a self-sustaining population," Dr Lyon said.

"It's the next step in that recovery program to do a very similar thing in the Kiewa where they used to be really abundant."

Two to three-year-old sub-adult fish, trans-located from locations including Lake Dartmouth are being released, as well as fingerlings produced by Fisheries Victoria.

Dr Lyon expects it will take about 10 years for the fish in the Kiewa River to reach a sustained population.

More than 100 fish have been released this week with the work funded by Victoria's flood recovery program.

The Macquarie perch has historically played an important role in the ecosystem as a mid to top order predator.

They assist in keeping introduced species numbers, such as redfin perch and carp, in check.

All adult Macquarie perch have a yellow coded tag for identification and tracking purposes.

"If anyone is out fishing and does catch one, there's a number on it," Dr Lyon said.

"Before they release the fish, they can write that number down and give us a buzz.

"We can get an idea about how far that fish might have moved since we released it or how much it might have grown, and even just get an idea that it's surviving, that these fish are back in there for the first time in 85 years."

It is currently prohibited to angle a Macquarie perch in Victorian waters while the populations are being restored.

Dr Lyon said it had been also positive to see more trout cod in the Kiewa River as well from the Ovens River stocking program, as both fish are formally registered as being nationally endangered species.