THE New South Wales State Government has released a six-month update on their Restoring the Darling-Baaka Program, which was initiated in response to the Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer Independent Review into the 2023 fish deaths at Menindee.
The program is planned to run for four years with updates given every six months.
As part of the program, 26 actions designed to restore the health of the river system and prevent future mass fish kill events will be implemented.
These steps are categorised into four overarching recommendations relating to environmental protection enforcement, evidenced-based decision making, emergency management, and intervention programs.
As part of the program, research is being conducted in collaboration with CSIRO into the long-term impact of fish deaths on river sediments, to investigate possible causes of golden perch die offs in the Menindee weir pool in February and March 2024.
Fish sampling is being completed in the next few months, with a long-term scientific response due for completion in June.
Other actions include the installation of new fish passage technologies with potential for fish sorting processes at the Lake Wetherell outlet regulator.
It’s expected that could will help move fish out of the weir pool to reduce biomass and the risk of mass fish kills.
Another recommendation relates to amendments to the Murray and Lower Darling water sharing plan, which will follow suggestions set out by the independent Connectivity Expert Panel’s July 2024 report.
Those changes require an agreement between the Murray Darling Basin Ministerial Council and Basin Officials Committee, who are currently conducting a review into the Menindee Lakes Operations that’s expected to be complete late this year.
An inter-agency working group to develop a New South Wales water quality monitoring framework has been established, working to identify gaps and resolve technical issues within the framework.
Other actions such as developing and publishing a Menindee-specific mass fish death response sub plan have had their timelines extended, with further engagement with the local community planned before the plan is finalized in March.
