Melanotaenia sp. nov. Running River (Running River rainbow fish)

Comment on Listing Assessments

Invitation to comment

You are invited to provide your views and supporting reasons in relation to the eligibility of the Running River rainbowfish for inclusion on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) threatened species list and necessary conservation actions for the species. In order for the EPBC Act list of threatened species to be seen as the authoritative list for the country, it is important that it reflect the true state of the Australian biota.

The views of experts, stakeholders and the general public are welcome. Responses can be provided by any interested person.

The Threatened Species Scientific Committee (the Committee) undertakes the assessment of species to determine eligibility for inclusion in the list of threatened species and provides its recommendation to the Australian Government Minister for the Environment. The devastating bushfires that burnt more than 10.3 million hectares across southern and eastern Australia in 2019-20 severely impacted native wildlife and habitat. This created an urgent need for hundreds of species and ecological communities (ECs) to be assessed against EPBC Act criteria for threatened listing status, so that the recovery and future resilience of fire-affected species and ECs could be supported by statutory protection commensurate with their post-fire status, and to ensure EPBC Act lists are as current and accurate as possible, helping improve environmental resilience and preparedness for future fire events. As part of the Australian Government’s bushfire response the Department engaged scientific experts to deliver a number of Species Expert Assessment Plans (SEAPs) for groups of species and ECs that were affected by the 2019-20 fires, or could be affected by similar fire events in the future, to enable hundreds of species and ECs to be assessed against EPBC Act criteria for threatened listing status and improve the currency of EPBC Act lists in a timely manner. This assessment follows evaluation of the conservation status of the above species through the SEAPs project.