The nationally endangered Macquarie perch was historically widespread across southeastern Australia, but is now restricted to several small and isolated populations, prone to environmental and genetic stochasticity. Macquarie perch was historically abundant in the Ovens River but underwent dramatic declines to the point where they were considered locally extinct. Since 2011, Macquarie perch have been released across a 50 km reach of the Ovens River with the aim of re-establishing a self-sustaining population. Released fish consisted of hatchery produced fingerlings and juvenile fish translocated from Lake Dartmouth. We present the outcomes of a program evaluation in 2018. Specifically, electrofishing surveys revealed Macquarie perch were distributed throughout the Ovens and Buffalo River, having dispersed well upstream of release sites. Using a novel and non-destructive monitoring approach, genetic samples from these fish were compared with samples taken from all translocated fish and broodstock (parents of all fingerlings) enabling an assessment of survival, growth and whether fish are reproducing. The program has been successful in re-establishing the foundations of a self-sustaining Macquarie perch population along with generating an engaged and supportive community, with the evaluation results providing important information to help guide future programs aimed at re-establishing threatened riverine fish populations.