GROSS mismanagement by governments and water authorities was to blame for recent fish kills in the region’s lakes system, according to Swan Hill Rural City councillors.
Councillors expressed dismay, disappointment and disbelief over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of fish at Kangaroo Lake, Lake Boga and other waterways since last year’s floods.
The fish deaths have been attributed to a combination of blue-green algae and unseasonal warm weather.
Early in March there were nine days above 30 degrees, and the maximum on March 18 was 41 degrees, which stripped oxygen from the water.
Goulburn-Murray Water staff and volunteers cleaned up the dead fish and the blue-green algae warning for Kangaroo Lake was removed on Tuesday.
Deputy mayor Stuart King told the recent council meeting that Kangaroo Lake was in neighbouring Gannawarra Shire, but the fish kill there would significantly impact Swan Hill as well.
“In our municipality, Lake Boga has also been affected with significant fish deaths,” he said.
“This is nothing less than gross water mismanagement and the people of our region deserve an explanation from the relevant government ministers.
“If this is the result of the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, then clearly the plan is a massive failure. There are significant impacts on farming, significant impacts on fishing, on recreation, and other tourism in this region and somebody needs to be held accountable.”
Cr Nicole McKay said she was horrified that the situation had gone from “bad to worse” since last year’s floods, which were followed by blackwater events, blue-green algae outbreaks and poor water quality.
“It should never have been that way,” she said.
“We would have been better to have good flows from the dams with better water – not drop the river so quickly – and allow some fresh water to improve the habitat for fish and humans.”
The Murray River at Swan Hill peaked at 4.6 metres on November 16 and by March 8 had dropped to less than 1m. This week the water level was about 1.3m.
Cr Bill Moar said there were still dead fish hanging on fences and rotting along roads after they were killed by blackwater.
He blamed water buybacks under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan for exacerbating the devastation caused by a “massive explosion” of European carp that were fouling water and damaging river banks, and called for the carp herpes virus to be released.
“It’s not working,” he said.
“How many more fish kills have we got to have to wake up? Buying back more water ain’t gonna work.
“Accepting fish kills as natural events? That’s just absolute poppycock.”
Cr Jacquie Kelly said it was hard to know whether the Murray-Darling Basin Plan or water managers had caused the fish kill at Kangaroo Lake.
“But certainly we have a very sick river system and as people who live along the river and farm along the river, we have to work these things out,” she said.
Cr Ann Young said it was time to revisit a proposal for a new low-level weir to maintain water in the Murray River at Swan Hill.
“It seems ironical that we’ve had all this water flow past us and go out to sea in South Australia, where I think at some point in time, there needs to be something done to keep that water here,” she said.
The council voted to write to Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh and the Victorian and federal water and environment ministers, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt and Tanya Plibersek, as well as the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder.
The letter referred to “the mismanagement of water in this region of the Murray Darling Basin post the 2022 floods, specifically highlighting the current fish deaths in the Kerang lakes system”.
Goulburn-Murray Water did not respond to a request for comment.
