More fish die in Darling River as Murray-Darling royal commission report is handed to Governor

A Royal commission report expected to make damning findings on the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will be handed to the Governor on Tuesday morning.

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A Royal commission report expected to make damning findings on the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan will be handed to Governor Hieu Van Le on Tuesday morning — and the State Government will likely make it public within days.

It will follow yet another mass fish death along the Darling River in far western NSW, where hundreds of thousands of bony herring, golden perch and carp have perished just three weeks after up to a million fish died in the same area near Menindee.

Darling River dead fish at Menindee. Credit: Phillip Bottrell

The state Murray-Darling Royal Commission was set up by the former SA Labor government to interrogate the Murray-Darling Basin Plan’s implementation amid scandals around water theft and rorting.

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said according to convention, the Government would release it after Cabinet considered it.

“The State Government believes the Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission report should be available to the public at the earliest opportunity and will ensure that occurs,” she said. Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said the State Government had “stymied and stifled” the commission “at every opportunity” and should release the report as soon as possible.

The Federal Government wanted to force the High Court to decide whether the Commission could compel federal witnesses to appear.

Then the SA Government declined to extend the commission’s deadline, making it impossible to get through the court process and interview witnesses in time.

The NSW Government blamed the latest mass fish death on weather.

In a statement, the NSW Department of Primary Industries said it was the result of “critically low levels of dissolved oxygen” following the significant drop in temperature over the last few days.

That killed off blue-green algae (which cuts off oxygen supplies) that had built up because of lack of water flow. But bacteria consuming the dead algae also depletes oxygen. And rain also broke up the river water, lowering oxygen levels even further.

The Bureau of Meteorology said temperatures at Menindee peaked at 48.8C on Friday, falling to 23.3C on Sunday, but “that’s not unusual for this time of year”.

The department has sent officers to investigate the event, which it believes has affected “large numbers of bony bream and smaller numbers of other species”.

Central Darling Shire Council has hired a clean-up operator.