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River Connections, an exciting project which has put a rigid inflatable boat (5.4m Naiad) on the Swan and Canning Rivers to undertake animal rescue and river conservation work, is now under way. To complement the Naiad, a small inflatable Zodiac, which can be transported to lakes and smaller creeks and inflated on site for for animal rescues, will also be purchased.  The boats will be operated by NAR volunteers, police from the Youth Policing Division, who work with PCYC, and the young people.  It is envisaged that the Naiad will patrol the river watching out for and rescuing animals that are in distress, clearing the river banks and water ways of litter and debris, particular items that are known to be harmful to our native animals eg fishing line, hooks and plastic bags. Obviously, it has the added benefit of increasing police presence on the two rivers.

Late 2010 an application was lodged with the Criminal Property Confiscation Grants Program for funding to operate this project for a period of two years. That application was successful with NAR awarded a grant for $199,900, the full amount requested. On September 16 2011, the Attorney General visited NAR to formally present the grant. The grant funds will go towards staffing and operating costs for the project. The purchase of the boats has been funded by NAR.

The Naiad was constructed by Kirby Marine and has been operational since October.We thank Natalie and Noel of Kirby Marine for their generous support to keep construction cost as low as possible. We also thank Yamaha for their generous donation of motor and steering gear, again a significant cost saving.

In December 2011, NAR and PCYC hosted environmental officers from the local government members of the Swan Canning Policy Forum, which covers the 21 local governments with management responsibility for the two rivers. The environmental officers were introduced to the project and invited to enter into discussion about how the project can assist them in their river conservation work. The project has been well received by the officers and we look forward to a strong collaborative partnership with local government for River Connections to assist in river conservation activities and, hopefully in due course, for local goverments to provide further support for the project into the future.

The project provides opportunity for the young people to gain boating skills and develop an interest in the rivers and their conservation.  The boats will work with KAB’s Clean Marine and Adopt a Spot programs, the Swan River Trust River Guardians and Dolphin Watch programs. the Water Police and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC).  The boats will undertake rescue of birds that are injured or snared in fishing line and hooks, to be taken back to NAR for treatment and rehabilitation.  The Naiad will also be used to release birds back onto the river and for general monitoring of wildlife on the river. Plans are also under way to work with Murdoch University to undertake a special project monitoring the health of the shag (commorant) population on the rivers.

In the future there may also be opportunity to extend the project off shore to the islands close to the Perth coastline, caring for native animals on these islands.  NAR already receives injured little penguins from Penguin Island for rehabilitation. 

Download a copy of the River Connections brochure (188kb).

If you are as excited by the potential of this project as we are and would like to support it financially, why not consider joining our Toobuxawik program. If you would like to sponsor this project (maybe the Naiad) or become involved in this project, as a volunteer, contact us.

Background

In November 2010, NAR and Police and Community Youth Centres (PCYC) celebrated the opening of the NAR-PCYC partnership on NAR’s premises.  The then Minister for Environment and Youth, Hon. Donna Faragher MLC was present to acknowledge and support the partnership.  The two organisations bring together a number of valuable synergies to this partnership.

PCYC has direct contact with the at-risk young people and provides police officers to supervise them while at NAR.  Itis looking for useful activities in which they can involve the young people and is particularly looking for activities that will be suitable for females, the proportion of which is increasing in their total intake of young people.

NAR can offer meaningful activities for the young people to undertake.  These activities will include construction and maintenance, gardening, land-care and animal care and many of these will cater for females.  The young people will develop skills in animal handling and the time they spend working with animals at NAR can be used as credit towards TAFE’s Certificate II in Animal Care.

To provide a greater level of involvement and ownership by the young people, NAR and PCYC has implemented the River Connections project.