The 2007 award is to the Southern Bass Fishing Club. Ron Croker (left) accepted the award from Rodney Tonkin (right) on behalf of the club.

The quality of discharged water has been improved by the Club’s suggestion for the installation of aerators which has lifted the water temperature significantly.

Earlier members stocked 200,000 Australian bass fingerlings into the backup waters of Tallowa Dam andby 1996 fantastic catches were being recorded. Southern Bass thenstarted the Lake Yarrunga Bass Invitation Fishing Competition. Monies raised were put back into stocking fingerlings into the Lake Yarrunga, Danjera Dam and Flatrock Creek Dam in the Shoalhaven area.

In 1998 further stockings were suspended pending construction of the fishway. Then with the help of the Sydney Catchment Authority and Fisheries, the Club started a program of electronic tagging of fish in the Shoalhaven River to establish if the fishway was working. GPS units identify the location of these tagged fish from time to time.

In 2005 the Club had became involved in yet another program of fin clipping in a PhD project for Macquarie University to assess the DNA of bass and estuary perch. This was to clarify the population genetic structure of both species. Southern Bass Fishing Club was also given the task of collecting fish from the Shoalhaven and Clyde Rivers.

Support is also being given to studies on factors in flow rates that stimulate upstream fish passage in the upper Shoalhaven River. Continued stocking of bass fingerlings into Danjera and Flatrock Dams has been done from brood stock sourced from the Shoalhaven, thereby preserving the genetic integrity of the population.

Club objectives include collecting and maintaining records, catch and release fishing, and creating greater awareness of Australian bass, their habitat, and the future of the species.