AI fish passage results are “promising,” but can it prevent another environmental disaster?

Operators of an innovative solution to prevent mass fish deaths are confident as the $6.52 million trial nears its three-year mark.

The use of AI to identify and transport native species from the Darling River in far western New South Wales to the Menindee Lakes has so far shown “promise”.

But the Finnish company behind the temporary fish passage faces an uphill battle to prove to locals that the taxpayer-funded project will pay off.

Fishheart’s Mika Sohlberg said the technology has allowed the fish to overcome obstacles such as roads, weirs and dams, complete their migratory life cycle and find spawning areas further north.

“We pipe the water from the reservoir through a pipeline to our unit where we collect the fish and take them across the dam to a water pressure reservoir,” he said.

Now in the year…