South Australian golf course wetland is breeding site for locally extinct tiny native olive perchlet
Ecologist Dr Sylvia Zukowski says the olive perchlet are indicators of a healthy ecosystem. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)
In short:
A threatened native freshwater fish has been released into the Glenelg Golf Club wetlands to breed.
The olive perchlet has been extinct in South Australia for 40 years due to habitat loss.
What's next?
As drought conditions empty dams and threaten water security, scientists say golf course wetlands could be a part of future fish conservation.
Golf courses around the world feature picturesque water ponds as a challenging hazard for players to avoid, but scientists say these permanent wetlands could be key breeding sites for threatened native fish.
Once found along the Murray Darling Basin but now locally extinct due to habitat loss, the olive perchlet has returned to South Australian waters for the first time since 1983.
Backed by $50,000 from the South Australian government environmental organisation Green Adelaide, not-for-profit Nature Glenelg Trust is repopulating the native fish as part of its rewilding program.
"To be able to bring back a species that has actually been extinct in South Australia for over 40 years is such a huge achievement," senior freshwater ecologist Dr Sylvia Zukowski said.
Olive perchlet are also known as glassfish because of their translucent appearance. (Supplied: Green Adelaide)
She said it was not known if breeding threatened fish by a golf green had been done before, but the artificial wetland at the Glenelg Golf Club, south-west of Adelaide, was perfect.
It has fringing vegetation and is safe from introduced predators like carp, gambusia and redfin.
Crucially, the water is clean and permanent.
"One of the biggest concerns we have with fish is water security," Dr Zukowski said.
The Glenelg Golf Club wetlands is being used as a breeding site for hundreds of olive perchlet. (Supplied: Green Adelaide)
Dr Zukowski contributed to research published in 2024 which found 37 per cent of Australian native freshwater fish are at risk of extinction — a threat made worse by climate change.
While drought conditions empty dams, wetlands like those at the Glenelg Golf Club do not dry out.
"Last year, we had the largest land drought within the Mount Lofty Ranges. We had dams going dry that haven't been dry for over 30 years," Dr Zukowski said.
"I think the golf club could be a really great part of fish conservation for South Australia and since we've done this in South Australia, we're also looking at it in other states as well."
The wetland is a perfect home for the olive perchlet due to its good water quality and fringing vegetation. (Supplied: Green Adelaide)
Using green spaces for good
Glenelg Golf Club sprawls across 50 hectares of land, a "fair slab" which course superintendent Tim Warren said golf clubs "have to almost justify".
"Golf courses have more to play than just hitting a golf ball around, or LIV golf,"he said.
"The cooling of the suburb, storm water retention and all the environmental benefits that an open space can bring."
The site has attracted pelicans, ducks, grebes, turtles, black cockatoos, magpies, Murray magpies and ibis, while a survey of the constructed wetlands where the olive perchlet now live found Galaxiidae, another native freshwater fish.
Glenelg Golf Club course coordinator Tim Warren is keen to help threatened native fish species. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)
"We're not just a space for recreation … we play a role in environmental stewardship,"Mr Warren said.
By early next year, the olive perchlet population could grow in the surrogate wetland from 500 to 10,000.
"We hope to be able to then reintroduce them into other wetlands and maybe even back into the wild one day," South Australian Environment Minister Lucy Hood said.