IFS’ Brett Mawbey and work experience student Kacey Lee Fairall got the annual elver harvest underway at the Trevallyn Tailrace near Launceston this week.

Timed around the evening high tides in mid-October until early in the new year, the harvest targets juvenile eels during their annual upstream migration.

This migration is interrupted by in stream structures such as dams therefore the elvers need a helping hand to get to their final destination, Tasmania’s lakes and rivers, to maintain biodiversity and the commercial eel industry.

The IFS capture the elvers unharmed in fyke nets before transporting them to receiving waters around the state.