FISH KILL NEAR MENINDE

[Paulanderson]

This video is sickening and shows just what happens not only during a drought but also when not enough water is released into the Darling/Barwon system from the many dams to maintain a flow. Years back we passed though Meninde during a drought and below the weir was a large pool (the lake was bone dry) that was a seething mass of Carp with some large dead cod. In 20 years nothing has changed!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1560535 ... 932096015/

[Paulanderson]

This will give you more background on the fish kill.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... g-incident

[Sebb]

Very sad news.
Everything is political nowadays and often it has negative effects (and ignored).

[Boonanza]

I was reading about this today I hate these fish kills it breaks your heart :down:

[Lightningx]

Very sad news indeed :down:

[Paulanderson]

The blame game continues with everyone involved with responsibility for water management conveniently blaming the drought. What's new about droughts in Australia and how do 80 to 100 year old Murray Cod suddenly get killed? The simple reason is that while the drought does not help far too much water is being taken out of the Darling/Barwon system by irrigators and as a result the rivers cease to flow for much of the year. This results in areas where there is no water whatsoever - just a dry riverbed with fish skeletons - and areas such as where the fish kills happened where the water quality degrades to the extent that fish kills occur.

The following are questions asked by Senator Rex Patrick.

IT’S OFFICIAL: NO ONE IS TO BLAME FOR MASS FISH DEATH INCIDENT

In what has to be one of the most bizarre 24 hours in recent Australian water history, the NSW Government and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) have attempted to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the latest environmental crisis in the Darling River.

Yesterday, Minister Blair blamed this latest tragedy on the drought, the MDBA, and anyone else but his own Department. But he indicated he was coming to Menindee to see the situation firsthand.

I suggested that a number of questions be asked, including:

* Some of the dead cod are over 80 years old, so they have survived many droughts (1935-45, 1952, 1964-65, 1982-83, 1990-95, 1997-2008). How can the NSW Minister possibly blame the drought?

* The Minister stood shoulder to shoulder with the MDBA in February last year as he threatened to withdraw NSW from the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) in response to the Senate's initial decision not to support an extra 70GL of water being made available to irrigators in the northern Basin. Does he no longer stand shoulder to shoulder with the MDBA?

* Did the NSW Government make any protestation to the MDBA when the lakes were being drained in 2016/17? Will the Minister publish that correspondence?

* Why does the Menindee Lakes Water Saving Project business case propose less water will be held in Menindee Lakes and that the Lower Darling will cease to flow more often and for longer. How can the Minister suggest this is an MDBA problem when the NSW Government is deliberately planning to make the situation south of Menindee Lakes worse?

* Does the Minister now acknowledge that the Northern and Southern Basin Sustainable Diversion limits, which were eventually passed by the Senate in May last year with the support of the Federal Government and Labor (but not Centre Alliance), may not actually be 'sustainable'?

* Has the Minister discussed with Federal Ministers Littleproud and Price the immediate use of recent Queensland or Commonwealth Environmental Water to assist in restoring life back to the Lower Darling?

* Is the Minister aware that, while the river is suffering, cotton growers are expecting their export volumes to go up from 3.8 million bales in 16/17 to 4.6 million bales in 17/18?

* Does the Minister concede that allowing cotton growers to take 2800GL of water from the Murray Darling each year, only to export the product so that foreign entities get rich from the value added production of textiles and clothing, is not in the national interest?

* Does the Minister accept that Australia's food bowl is being damaged in order for foreign entities to profit?

But unfortunately there were no answers from Minister Blair because when he visited Menindee today he was shown around in the police boat and did not stop to meet with the 150 locals waiting to express their concerns about this latest environmental tragedy. Perhaps Minister Blair is only interested in talking to Murray-Darling locals when they’re large scale irrigators or cotton growers.

To top everything off, this afternoon, four days after the deaths started, the MDBA decided to awaken from their slumber to say something on this matter. And that something was ‘it’s not our fault’.

Their statement said, “Unfortunately, the main causes of this distressing event are the lack of water flowing into the northern rivers, and the impact of 100 years of over-allocation of precious water resources throughout the entire basin.”

What? This is the same organisation that last year recommended (in the Northern Basin Review) taking an additional 70GL from the northern Basin to give to irrigators.

There are serious consequences for the Darling River drying up. The fish spawning that occurs in the Menindee Lakes and Lower Darling is important to South Australia and Victoria, and the river is also critical to proper flows through the Murray Mouth and into the Coorong. The Darling River cannot be allowed to die.

All of this is probably summed up best by this video posted by Tolarno Station last night.

[Lajon]

https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sust ... 50qc9.html

Beyond sad
Hope the link works
Haven’t seen much on it so not sure how long it has been going on like this

[Lightningx]

That really is sad to see :down:

[Irishfisherman]

Geez, that’s awful. And they died a horrible death as well because they had no oxygen. Surely all of those dead fish will pollute the system.

[smile0784]

Very sad indeed