Jabour Weir's existing fishway
An old ineffective fishway design was retrofitted with Denil inserts however this favours strong swimming species.
Jabour Weir fishway concept design
A vertical slot fishway will improve fish passage past Jabour Weir.
Example CFD model output
Numerous model runs were made to determine impact of flows and structural elements on fish passage. credit: Forward Hydro
Jabour Weir is the last remaining barrier on the Richmond River
Surrounding weirs have been removed and Kyogle Weir has a fishway. Addressing Jabour Weir will make several hundred kilometres of fish passage available up to the village of Grevillia.
Nearly two decades ago work began to address these barriers, with Norco Weir being the first weir removed in 2007 followed by Manyweathers Weir two years later. In 2017 new off-stream storage provided an opportunity for Kyogle Council to lower the height of Kyogle Weir and facilitate the construction of a V-shaped prefabricated rock ramp fishway, improving fish passage opportunities in the upper catchment. Finally in 2021 the redundant Cookes Weir, 12 km upstream of Jabour Weir, was removed. These works have meant that Jabour Weir is the last remaining obstruction on the mainstem Richmond River up to the village of Grevillia and is one of the highest priority sites for fish passage remediation in coastal NSW.
Jabour Weir continues to serve as a water supply source for Casino. Its original submerged orifice fishway has been replaced with Denil inserts that now provides limited fish passage for larger, stronger swimming species. In 2013 a concept design report was commissioned by Richmond Valley Council which identified a vertical slot fishway or a trapezoidal fishway as options for providing fish passage past the weir.
Construction of a vertical slot fishway at Jabour Weir will allow native fish to move freely from the sea to over 234 km of the mainstem Richmond River, improving the resilience of the fish population, and allow them to shelter and rapidly repopulate following extreme flood events.
Due to the scale and duration of the project, delivery needed to be staged and has extended beyond the life of the NEAP program. Completion of the detailed design has been funded through the Marine Estate Management Strategy's "Reconnecting fish habitats" project. The next stages of the project, including construction, will be progressed as resourcing becomes available.