World Wetlands Day Yabby Festival
World Wetlands Day Yabby Festival
Celebrating World Wetland Day with a visit to Pollack Lagoon
Community Participation
The issue
To celebrate World Wetlands Day and a positive exposure with our community who have had limited events following Covid-19 restrictions easing and 2022 floods.
The solution
WMLIG in partnership with Murray Local Land Services provided a free community event to celebrate World Wetlands Day.
A bus was provided to visit Pollack Lagoon and hear the importance of restoring our wetlands from Murray LLS as well as the significance of keeping water in Aboriginal Heritage sites, recreational fishing compliance and the best way to catch and cook yabbies from Dr John Conallin and Dan Hutton.
After exploring the aquatic life in the nets, learning of yabby lifecycle and visiting the Barapa Barapa mounds and ponds, the community returned to Murray Connect to have salad rolls, sample freshly caught yabbies and share stories together.
The impact
s the first event since Covid-19 pandemic restrictions have eased and the floods, we were able to celebrate community by showcasing the Pollack and the importance of protecting wetlands.
- Our experts explained to community that protecting wetlands is not a “just add water” solution but requires a multi-prong ecosystem approach to pest management, environmental watering and vegetation control involving long term stewardship. Community members were shown 3,000-year-old Aboriginal ponds with water in them from the flood and began to learn about traditional indigenous food source and ecosystem management.
- Participant questions to subject matter experts concluded that there is lot we don’t know about the cryptic underground lifecycle of yabbies.
Feedback from 18 survey respondents was overwhelmingly positive with 100% reporting that the day was well or very well run and 100% reporting that the information was informative and educational. 50% of the respondents heard about the event from word of mouth and 40% from promoted advertising material. The only feedback to improve the day was to catch more yabbies!
Key facts
- 44 Participants
- 16 new families engaged
- 90% positive reviews
- 18 surveys completed
- First large community event since COVID