Murray Cod Australia says no effect from Darling River fish deaths
- by Darrel Baker
- in Sci-tech
- — Jan 12, 2019
In the town itself, the stench from rotting fish carcasses near the main boat ramp wafts into the Burke and Wills Menindee Motel.
Among the fish varieties most impacted by the event are vitally important native species like bony bream, Murray cod and perch.
Up to a million fish have died in the Darling River system in western NSW.
"We have spent billions trying to save the Murray Darling Basin and what have we got?"
In the video, the two men stand in the river cradling two huge Murray cods, with Arnold saying, "it makes me feel like crying". "Look at this", Mr Buckingham said, as he retched while holding a rotting fish.
"It's devastating to see the hundreds of thousands of fish killed earlier this week and we believe this is one of the largest fish kills ever seen", Mr Blair later said in a statement.
Her water minister - who has been savaged by some Menindee locals for partly blaming the drought - said fish kills are not a new phenomenon and happened in the region between 2002 and 2004 during the millennium drought.
Rejecting the explanation given by authorities on Tuesday that the fish kill was a result of the ongoing drought, many local community members are now claiming the event was caused by water mismanagement. "Without more water available to flow through the system, it is possible more fish will die during summer".
"The scale of this disaster is extraordinary and unprecedented", Mr Daley said.
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NSW Labor confirmed that it would seek to overturn the plan - supported by all basin state governments and the Morrison government - to effectively decommission the Menindee Lakes System.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Blair told the Herald that he had asked his departments to conduct an urgent study into the fish deaths and the subsequent clean-up.
"They don't understand what it would mean [to cancel it]", Blair says, of the NSW Labor stance.
Ex-Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham has made himself an instant meme after almost spewing while holding a dead fish in a video that was meant to highlight the National Party's water policies.
Ranchers and other residents say government water policies are the real cause.
Cotton Australia said drought was affecting the river system and that the industry was also suffering, forecasting its crop this season would be half of the previous year's.
"Further upstream at Dirranbandi (home of Cubbie Cotton), just 300 hectares of cotton has been planted, which is 1% of what can be planted in a very good season".
The iconic Aussie fish is in the headlines right now after a video surfaced showing angry farmers hauling dead "century-old" Murray cod out of the Darling River, calling it an Australian environmental "disaster".
Peter Hannam writes on environment issues for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
