Angry outback town feels abandoned after fish kill

Mar 27, 2023

Enormous clusters of dead fish have been found at Menindee's main weir on the Darling-Baaka River, the latest in a string of mass kills. “People north of Menindee say there’s cod and perch floating down the river everywhere.” (AAP Image/Samara Anderson)

Menindee locals say they feel abandoned and have no idea how they will recover from a record mass fish kill on the Darling-Baaka River.

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Police and water authorities held a second community meeting in the outback NSW town on Friday, March 24 after millions of fish washed up dead.

Graeme McCrabb went to the meeting and said many people voiced concerns about the quality of their drinking water and the future of Menindee after the second major fish kill in four years.

The state's Environmental Protection Authority could not provide water testing results at the meeting.

"Not having any results for the community just added to the layer of frustration," Mr McCrabb said.

"You could hear the anger, the frustration and the disdain. They've just had enough."

A spokesman for the agency said water samples were collected from six sites on the river on Tuesday, March 21 and delivered to Sydney for testing.

Despite being fast-tracked, some of the tests for pesticides, metals, nutrients, algae and algal toxins would take several days.

The results may be available late this week.

The local council has been carting fresh supplies to residents who rely on the river water.

Mr McCrabb said the clean-up efforts, involving nets and the use of booms, were "beyond a joke" as dead fish were spotted 120km downstream.

"Twenty million dead fish are flowing down the river and we're trying to clean up at the tail end of it."

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann and local independent member Roy Butler have visited Menindee but locals felt otherwise ignored, Mr McCrabb said.

"Where's our support to try and recover? Abandoned is the only word," he said.

Authorities estimate up to 20 million fish died because of low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, known as hypoxic blackwater, which was exacerbated by floods and heatwaves.

Southern Riverina Irrigators chair Chris Brooks blamed the fish deaths on over-extraction from upstream irrigators and mismanagement of the river system.

“On the back of one of the wettest years on record and with a large lake system sitting above, how on earth do 20 million fish die from lack of oxygen,” Mr Brooks said.

“This is mismanagement at the highest level and it is getting worse.”

He said at the time of the fish kill the main diversion weir at Menindee was closed.

“We can only assume the weir was closed to protect water releases to meet NSW’s downstream commitments, including to South Australia because of a long-term history of over-extraction in the northern basin,” Mr Brooks said.

By McPherson Media Group