Action urged after report into 20 million fish deaths

Luke Costin | September 1, 2023

A damning report into the cause of 20 million fish deaths has ignited demands to overhaul NSW’s water guardian and start enforcing water laws in the Darling-Baaka River system.

The NSW chief scientist and engineer’s report warned a repeat of the mass fish kill at Menindee in March remains likely as the bodies decompose amid a drying climate.

Many of the causes had been well documented in previous reports into the river system but many recommendations made in those reports have not been implemented, Hugh Durrant-Whyte said.

“This lack of action represents a clear contributing factor to ongoing system decline and fish deaths,” the chief scientist said in the executive summary released on Thursday evening.

Professor Durrant-Whyte’s top recommendation was enforcing environmental protections, urging the introduction of legally enforceable obligations and powers to ensure the health of the entire catchment’s ecosystem was protected.

Short, medium and long-term strategies should be developed to reduce the risk of further mass fish deaths and restore river health.

The findings warranted an overhaul of the NSW water department, Greens MP and water spokesperson Cate Faehrmann said on Friday.

“The NSW water minister must look at what changes are needed within her water department to ensure the river health is prioritised,” she said.

“These terrible fish kills, off the back of the carnage we saw in 2018/19, are clearly a manifestation of the overall degradation of the broader river ecosystem resulting from decades of wilful mismanagement of water in NSW.”

The state’s leading environmental advocacy agreed substantial action was required.

“We actually do have strong laws in NSW to make sure the river is looked after before water is pumped out but these laws are useless if they’re not put into practice,” Nature Conservation Council of NSW’s water campaigner Mel Gray said.

“The last severe drought saw catastrophic fish kills, rivers reduced to disconnected green pools, wetlands on fire and 90 regional cities and towns staring down day zero.”

Water Minister Rose Jackson accepted all findings and recommendations and said work was already underway to restore and improve river health.

That work includes water quality monitoring and more remote dissolved oxygen sensors.

“We are grateful for the work and insight the local community have put into this report and we remain committed to communicating with openness and transparency with the Menindee community,” Ms Jackson said.

Any changes to the management of the Darling-Baaka will also impact many of the 2.3 million people living in the Murray-Darling Basin.

The independent authority overseeing the basin’s $13 billion management plan in July admitted there is no way it could hit legislated targets by June 2024.

That caused the federal government to strike a new deal with NSW, South Australia, Queensland and the ACT to ensure promised water under the plan would be returned to the environment by 2027.

Victoria is the only basin state to not sign up to the new plan, with the government saying its opposition to water buybacks hasn’t changed.