Queensland Lungfish - Conservation Status

Conservation Status

Although the status of the Queensland lungfish is secure, it is a protected species under the Queensland Fish and Oyster Act of 1914 and capture in the wild is strictly prohibited. It was placed on the CITES list in 1977. The lungfish is currently protected from fishing and collection for education or research purposes requires a permit in Queensland, under the Fisheries Act of 1994, and from the Commonwealth Government. It is included on the list of “vulnerable” species, as studies have failed to show that it meets the criteria needed to be considered a threatened or endangered species.

Human activities currently threaten the Queensland lungfish, particularly water development. It is potentially at risk in much of its core distribution in the Burnett and Mary Rivers as 26% of these river systems are presently impounded by weirs and dams. Barriers to movement and altered flow regimes downstream of dams for irrigation purposes could lead to the disruption of existing population structure and cause even more loss of genetic variation.

Queensland lungfish can be very fast growing, yet with a delayed first breeding age. For a long-lived species with naturally low mortality rates, successful spawning and juvenile recruitment is not essential every year and may only occur irregularly in medium to long cycles, even in natural environments. The length of these cycles could easily mask the potentially deleterious impacts on recruitment for many years. Additionally, large adults could remain common for decades and give no indication of a declining population in the longer term.

The Mozambique mouth brooder, or tilapia, has been declared a noxious and threatening alien species to the lungfish in Queensland.