Book giveaway: The Life and Times of the Murray Cod

What do you win: a paperback copy of my new book, The Life and Times of the Murray Cod, by Paul Humphries

It retails through CSIRO Publishing at AUD$59.99, although you can get it at many book stores, like Collins Bootstores, The Flyfisher, Dymocks and online at Amazon and Booktopia and others, at a considerable discount. There are hard copies and electronic copies available.

What you need to do to win a copy: in the comments to this post, tell me in 100 words or less what it is that you love about the Murray cod. It can be anything you like: history, ecology, fishing, conservation, eating, etc. It is completely up to you.

Closing date and rules of the competition: Thursday 30 November at midnight. No entries after that date will be accepted. I will judge the entries myself. My decision will be final, and no negotations will be entered into. I will contact the winner to organise postal delivery. Competition is only open to residents of Australia (otherwise the postage is going to be too much!). There is no age limit. Strictly only one application per person.

More information about the book:

Rheophilia interview with Prof Peter E. Davies

Peter Davies is a Tasmanian freshwater scientist, who spends half of each year in southern France. Originally an organic chemist, since graduating from his PhD, he has been a biologist at the Tasmanian Inland Fisheries Commission, run his own freshwater consultancy, advised state and federal governments and reviewed many of their environmental programs and collaborated on diverse research projects with Australian and international scientists. He has also combined his passions for conservation, art and science through a range of projects, the most recent a collaboration with his partner, Lynn Davies. We talk about all of this and more in this interview, which I enjoyed very much. I must declare that Peter and I have been friends for a very long time, and this will undoubtedly have influenced our discussions – it certainly allowed me to tell a few embarrassing stories of some of the times we shared. I hope you enjoy it

New book: The Life and Times of the Murray Cod

Announcing my forthcoming book The Life and Times of the Murray Cod, CSIRO Publishing in May 2023 and available for pre-order now.

The Murray cod is Australia’s largest and most iconic freshwater fish. Tales of the species have long been part of Australian folklore and this book describes its history, biology, cultural significance and conservation.

The Life and Times of the Murray Cod reveals the many roles the species has played throughout the history of the continent, from its place at the heart of the Aboriginal creation story of the Murray River, its role as a food source for explorers surveying inland Australia in the early 1800s, to it forming the basis of a commercial fishing industry up to the early 2000s.

Living for upwards of half a century and growing to astonishing sizes, today the Murray cod is a hugely popular target for recreational fishing, but its future is anything but assured. In the face of climate change, river management and fishing pressure, much needs to be done to ensure this extraordinary fish swims confidently into the future.

The Life and Times of the Murray Cod draws on historical, anecdotal and scientific sources to reveal what makes this remarkable species so special, and will appeal to fishers, natural resource managers, conservationists and any reader interested in natural history.

To see details of my other book, The Ecology of Australian Freshwater Fishes, edited with Keith Walker follow this link.

Rheophilia interview with stream ecologist Professor Barb Downes

My latest interview was with Professor Barb Downes about her life, studies, research and career in river ecology and academia. We discuss how she was inspired by her love of birds growing up in Adelaide, and then went on to study parasites in reptiles and later, as part of her PhD, in freshwater mussels in Florida. She talks candidly about the trials and tribulations during her Masters and PhD, her return to Australia and shift in focus of her work with Sam Lake at Monash University and later at the University of Melbourne. She has had an impressively productive research career in stream ecology (mostly on macroinvertebrates but also fish and even plants) and, as a lecturer at all levels of university, she has been a supervisor and mentor to many Honours and post-graduate students. It was a real pleasure to catch up with Barb and to hear what inspired her as a young student and what continues to inspire her today.

Rheophilia interview with water scientist Professor Barry Hart

It was an absolute pleasure to talk with Professor Barry Hart about his childhood growing up in Bairnsdale, what inspired him to become a water scientist and how he and his wife, Margaret, raised four children, while Barry studied for a PhD and taught part time. We discuss how he went against the flow and set up the Water Studies Centre at what was then Caulfield Institute of Technology to carry out applied research in freshwater systems. We trip through his time at Monash University and his role in helping establish the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, and I ask him what motivates him to keep working in water management and policy after so many years. Barry also gives me his insight into what he considers are the major issues facing Australia’s freshwater ecosystems now and in the future. Thanks for a great chat Barry.

Interview with environmental historian Professor Emerita Heather Goodall on Rheophilia – Interviews in Freshwater Science

With a slight departure from strictly focusing on freshwater, I talk with Professor Heather Goodall about how her research and interests in environmental history, and especially the central roles that fresh-, salt- and brackish-water have played in it all. She explains the origins of her interest in history, and chronicles her research on, and collaboration with, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in inland and coastal, and urban and rural settings. We discuss the cultural significance of fish and rivers of the Murray-Darling, in her collaboration with Jodi Frawley, Scott Nichols and Liz Baker on the Talking Fish project, as well as her enduring environmental, historical and cultural interest in the Georges River. And I was especially keen to learn of Heather’s work with, and appreciation of, Isabel Flick, the renowned Aboriginal rights activist and community leader. It was a delight to talk with Heather.

Interview with stream ecologist Prof Andrew Boulton on Rheophilia: Interviews in Freshwater Science

In my first interview for 2021, I talk with Professor Andrew Boulton – probably best known for his work on the ecology of intermittent streams and the hyporheic zone (that cryptic environment within the wetted sediments of many streams and rivers) and his co-authored textbook Australian Freshwater Ecology – about the origins of his love of aquatic ecology, his obsession with temporary waters, a Eureka moment during his post-doc in Arizona, the many collaborations with Australian and international freshwater scientists, editing a scientific journal, and how work keeps falling out of the sky, even after ‘retirement’ aged 47. It was an absolute pleasure to catch up with him and chat about his career, his science and the serendipitous nature of life and work.

Interview with Dr Brian Timms on Rheophilia: interviews in freshwater science

My latest interview for Rheophilia is with invertebrate taxonomist, ecologist and geomorphologist Dr Brian Timms. Brian has studied the invertebrates that live, reproduce, die and live again in temporary water bodies and salt lakes in some of Australia’s most challenging arid environments. His publication history spans more than 50 years, during which time he has described dozens of invertebrate species, and together with many Australian and international collaborators, drawn attention to the incredible diversity of animals – and the ecosystems in which they live – that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Interview with Dr Emily O’Gorman on Rheophilia: interviews in freshwater science

My latest interview for Rheophilia is with Macquarie University environmental historian, Dr Emily O’Gorman. Emily researches human relations with water and her work is particularly fascinating because the historical perspective reveals the benevolent, malevolent, scientific and unscientific, funny, enlightening and always changing attitudes that we have towards water and water bodies such as rivers, swamps and marshes and the like. Her work is never more relevant than today, when scientists, managers and the broader community seeks answers to large and complex questions about water in this driest of inhabited continents. There is a lot to learn from the past!

Interview with Terry Hillman on Rheophilia

My interview with Dr Terry Hillman AM is now up on Rheophilia. Terry is a wealth of knowledge, insight and humour, as he talks about his beginnings studying agriculture at Dookie College, northern Victoria, completing his PhD at ANU and his dabbling in agal ecology, through to his time at CSIRO and as Director of the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre, and the work monitoring changes in the Murray River because of development of the twin cities of Albury and Wodonga. In the hour or so we chatted, we only managed to get to about the mid-1980s. I will have to invite him back to hear more of his time during huge changes in science and management of the food bowl of Australia that is the Murray-Darling Basin.