The capital's fish population was topped up by about 90,000 on Wednesday, when thousands of native fingerlings were released into lakes and waterways around the city.
Murray cod and silver perch were released at Lake Tuggeranong, Yerrabi Pond, Lake Burley Griffin, Gungahlin Pond, Lake Ginninderra and the Isabella and Upper Stranger ponds.
Bradley Bell, a Ngunnawal man, said First Nations people had relied on the species for thousands of years, and the fish were part of a connection to country and surrounding nations.
"It's really important that we keep those species thriving within our waterways," Mr Bell said at Lake Tuggeranong.
"The species are what connects us to our country and what connects us to our identity and who we are.
"And their continual survival within our waterways is really important because it connects us right back to our ancestry and was one of the species within our country that sustained our life for over thousands and thousands of years."
Mr Bell said the Ngunnawal people were eager to become more involved in the long-running fish release restocking program.
Ngunnawal people are also eager to establish their own fish hatcheries on the Murrumbidgee, he said.
"But it's really important that we get a hold of this now and we maintain what we have in our waterways and that these species are protected," Mr Bell said.
"Not only from an environmental and recreational perspective but also from a Ngunnawal cultural perspective, because a lot of our dreamtime stories are with these endemic species."
Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti, who was on hand to assist with the fish release, said the species had been picked because they were native to the region, improved ecological waterway health and support recreational fishing.
"Part of being the bush capital is ensuring that we protect our natural habitats, including our waterways and rivers. We've had a long program over decades, since the 1960s, of ensuring that we've got really good stock of our native fish species," she said.
