Townsville City Council has completed an electrofishing operation at the Ross River Dam, relocating 143 barramundi — many of them more than a metre long — from the dangerous spillway base to fishable waters downstream. The operation is designed both to restock the river for recreational anglers and to reduce the draw that is pulling illegal fishers into a prohibited, high-risk zone.
The operation, completed on 10 April 2026, collected a total of 144 fish: 143 barramundi and a single tilapia. More than 100 of those fish were safely transported downstream, where they will be available to recreational anglers under Stage 1 access rules. Council described "a significant number of fish over a metre long" among the haul.
Mayor Nick Dametto said the fish had been drawn to the spillway base after recent heavy rain, putting them out of reach of anglers and in danger of being stranded. "This work supports recreational fishing on the Ross River, while removing fish from directly below the spillway where they were trapped after the recent rainfall events," Dametto said.
The operation also addresses a longstanding safety problem. The spillway base is a prohibited fishing zone, yet council has reported a recurring pattern of anglers ignoring signage, prompting confrontations with rangers and staff. Councillor Kristian Price described the conditions at the structure as deceptive. "The spillway might look calm one moment, but in a very short time it can become extremely dangerous, particularly during the wet season," he said.
The electrofishing technique stuns fish temporarily, allowing trained crews to capture and transport them without injury. In this case, the target was concentrated at the spillway base, where flood flows after recent rainfall had swept barra into a section anglers cannot legally access.
Council has indicated that Stage 2 recreational access at the Ross River Dam, which would open additional fishing and boating opportunities, is contingent on community compliance with the current Stage 1 restrictions. Repeated incursions into prohibited areas could delay that expansion.
Two other operational notes for local anglers: fishing at the spillway base remains prohibited, and council continues to advise against eating fish taken from the Ross River Dam because of blue-green algae presence. For anglers fishing the river downstream of the dam wall, however, the relocation represents an immediate upgrade — more than a hundred quality barra have just been shifted into legal water, including what the council described as a number of fish over the magic metre mark.