EIGHTEEN months on from the death of 30 million fish in the Darling-Baaka River, Menindee community members say they’re on high alert for another fish-kill event this summer.
Kate McBride, a Menindee resident, river advocate and member of the Basin Community Committee, said not enough had been done on the ground to prevent another environmental disaster on the lakes.
“Everyone is really alarmed and alert for fish kills,” she said.
“We’re warning authorities and ministers that this is likely to happen if we don’t manage this.”
Since the March 2023 fish kills, research on the health of the river system was conducted and compiled in reports by the Connectivity Expert Panel and the New South Wales Chief Scientist.
An environmental flush of water was also sent down the river from the upper Menindee Lakes to tackle algal blooms in the lower Darling-Baaka and restore the water quality.
However, Ms McBride said she didn’t believe enough action had been taken to ensure the health of the river and lakes.
“We’ve seen the Chief Scientist report that gave some really important recommendations looking at how we can avoid fish kills in the future,” she said.
“There’s also been a Connectivity report, they’re probably the most important bits of work that have happened.
“Both incredible pieces of work that give us a pathway forward, but we aren’t really seeing the wheels hitting the road in terms of action to change the things that led to the last fish kills.”
Minimum-flow rules, restrictions on floodplain harvesting and dam releases were some of the suggestions outlined in the Connectivity Expert Panel’s final report released in July.
“We are firmly of the view that the Government needs to take action now,” the report recommended.
Ms McBride said she was disappointed the report hadn’t resulted in more water being released down the river.
“We haven’t seen more water flowing down, or community input being treated as important in the decision making when it comes to WaterNSW and how they manage the lakes,” she said.
“In terms of making real change, we need to look at the fish passage at Menindee and how we can avoid the build-up of fish in those problem areas, and also restoring flows.
“They’re the two main things, and unfortunately, we haven’t seen concrete things done to help facilitate these changes.”
Menindee resident and Australian Floodplain Association vice-president Graeme McCrabb said he was most concerned about the number of fish coming into the weir pool, a body of water between Main Weir and Weir 32, and the lack of a fish passage to allow fish to travel upstream when water in the weir becomes too low to support the number of fish.
Fish-kill events are often the result of overcrowding in the weir pool, which lowers the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, causing fish to suffocate and die.
“It could be five times the biomass of fish in the weir pool, and that will be a struggle as we get towards the end of summer,” Mr McCrabb said.
“I’m concerned. (A fish-kill event) will be in the last part of summer and into next year if we don’t get any more inflow.”
A WaterNSW spokesperson said dissolved oxygen levels were being monitored.
“The latest water quality information is currently showing the water column is well oxygenated with levels above the 4mg/L upper critical level for fish health,” the spokesperson said.
“An increase in temperatures over recent weeks has seen an increase in water temperature near the surface, which is causing an increase in algal activity and higher dissolved oxygen during the day.”
Sunset Strip home owner Ross Ledra said he was worried about the number of fish in the lakes.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
“Flows are going to have to be managed very well with this number of fish in the system. If WaterNSW live up to their past, we’re going to see trouble again.”
The WaterNSW spokesperson said it was committed to trialling a short-term temporary fish passage solution for fish movement in the river at Menindee.
“The goal of the trial is to help fish migrate and reduce fish biomass in the Menindee town weir pool,” the spokesperson said.
“Early community consultation took place over August and September this year in Menindee. The tender process closed in September and is currently being evaluated by a panel of experts.
“The department does not always have the ability to take action to reduce the risk (of fish kills) because we only have a limited amount of water available to use for water quality management.”
It was acknowledged hot summer conditions and reduced flows in the river can increase the risk of fish deaths.
Barb Arnold, owner of historic property Bindara Station on the Darling-Baaka between Menindee and Pooncarie, said she was concerned not enough water was being allowed to travel down the river system.
“One concern is the increase in extraction in the Darling upstream that of course has flow-on affects for the rest of the Darling,” she said.
Ms Arnold said she remembers the smell of last year’s fish kills as fish caught in branches along the river decomposed, and said she was unable to drink the river water which she’d solely relied on.
At Bindara Station Ms Arnold hosts travellers in cabins along the river, and she said she was forced to buy bottled water for her guests for months after the fish-kill event.
“I’m against the change that took place when water was separated from the land and it became a commodity on the stock market,” she said.
Ms McBride said the overallocation of water licences in the Northern Basin needed to be assessed so that water could be returned to the system to ensure equity through the Murray-Darling Basin.
She said over-extraction in the Northern Basin across northern NSW and southern Queensland had turned the Darling-Baaka into the unhealthy river it is today.
The Menindee community have experienced multiple fish kills events, as well as dry and wet years in the lakes, and Ms McBride said she believed the community’s perspective needed to be taken more seriously.
“We’ve seen this for many years and there’s a lot of knowledge in the community on how best to deal with it,” she said.
“There’s frustration because we’re not included in the decision making or consultation process.”
Mr Ledra said appointing a water commissioner on the ground in Menindee could solve a lot of the problems when events requiring immediate action occur, such as fish kills or flooding.
“We’ve now got people based in Sydney, they haven’t got a clue,” he said.
“They’re making decisions far too late; they’re not active, they’re reactive.”
Ms McBride said she was particularly concerned about fish kills this summer due to the way water was being released and how the lakes were being managed.
“We’re watching the quality and quantity of water that’s coming through at the moment from the Northern Basin, and the reality is that in the last couple of months things have dried off, so we’re not likely to see those flows come down,” she said.
Recent testing of algal samples at Copi Hollow, a caravan park that sits on Lake Pamamaroo, part of the Menindee Lakes, indicated an increase in recent algal activity, triggering an amber alert for recreational use that remains in place.
Under an amber alert, water should be considered unsuitable for potable use and may be unsuitable for stock watering.
Ms McBride remained optimistic that if action was taken quickly, the potential of a mass fish-kill event could be reduced.
“I think if we see some substantial flows coming down the system – and there will be calls for embargoing water, meaning irrigators upstream can’t take water, it has to come downstream – that will help reduce the risk,” she said.
“We also need to look at water recovery in the Northern Basin. That might look like buying back water.”
