Up to a million fish are dead, and many more could follow as the drought and political blame game continue

Dead fish are clogging Australia’s river system, andbehind the environmental disaster sits the stench of the political blame game.

It was meant to be the carp. It was meant to be that pest fish dying in the hundreds of thousands; not our native fish.

The plan introduced by former Water Minister Barnaby Joyce was to kill off the carp with a herpes virus.

If it worked, it was meant to transform the Murray-Darling. No more would they stir up the muck from the bottom, swamping native plants and leaving native fish without food.

If there was a way to clear all those rotten carcasses from the river, the dream was it would one day become clear again.

Now Australia is watching in horror as the native fish die. Up to a million so far, and more to come. Enormous, century-old fish bobbing to the surface.

Hundreds of the million dead fish, at the Medindee Lakes in western NSW. Picture: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/1560535094179073/photos/

Why is this happening?

That depends who you ask and this is where the politics kick in.

The fish deaths are in Menindee Lakes, in NSW. The lakes are a critical water management tool with a series of weirs, levees, channels and regulators to hold water or let it flow through to the River Murray.

A blue-green algal bloom had hit the water — something that happens when water quality is low. Then a cool change killed some of the bloom, which had the effect of removing oxygen from the water, which killed the fish.

A severe drought has affected the water quality but there are also accusations that irrigators have been allowed to take too much water from upstream of the Menindee Lakes.

But the Federal Government insists it’s the drought. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that the deaths were “one of the consequences of drought”, a view also held by his Water Minister David Littleproud. Mr Littleproud warns there is a “high likelihood of more fish kills very soon” without rain.

Irrigators including Cotton Australia, also blame the stress caused by the drought, which has driven water levels very low.

However, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority says the lack of water is also because of over-allocation of water for the century leading up to the drought.

Scientists with expertise in water hold a range of views but those collated by the Australian Science Media Centre agree that it’s not the drought, or not just the drought.

The Australian National University’s Professor Quentin Grafton says too much water is being taken out of the river and that the Basin Plan has failed to reform the management of the system

The University of Queensland’s Professor John Quiggin says political decisions have compromised the environmental goals for the Murray-Darling.

The University of SA’s Professor Jennifer McKay says water-saving schemes are approved in a partisan way that only considers local interests, instead of the system as a whole.

As Rod Campbell, The Australia Institute’s research director puts it: “The Prime Minister blames the drought, the NSW Water Minister blames the Commonwealth, upstream blames downstream, and downstream blames upstream.”

(For the record, the Institute blames the mismanagement of the Basin Plan, the $13 billion Plan meant to restore the system to health.)

What’s being done?

The rotting fish will be picked up in nets, put on a barge, before going to landfill.

That’s the immediate response, and doesn’t answer the longer term question about stopping future incidents and improving the overall health of the Murray-Darling.

There’s certainly not much that can be done about the drought. But the Basin Plan was meant to work to keep the Basin healthy, to keep the native fish feeding and breeding.

Mr Littleproud has announced a $5 million recovery package, which will pay for the clean-up and for fish restocking. That money will come from a joint fund held for the Murray-Darling.

He’s called an emergency meeting of state and federal water stakeholders to agree to the cash and work on a strategy.

“We’ve also offered NSW, which controls water flows, any assistance it requires as it responds to these incidents and to rebuild fish stocks when it rains,” Mr Littleproud said yesterday. “The reality is we’re in a serious drought and the only silver bullet is rain.”

The Federal Opposition want an inquiry. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has written to the PM about it, and opposition water spokesman Tony Burke says an independent taskforce run by scientists need to work out exactly why the fish have died. The Australian Greens want a return to water buybacks.

NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham, right, is shaken by the mass fish deaths. Picture: Office of Jeremy Buckingham MLC

What does it mean for SA?

At this point the NSW system is cut off and SA is getting environmental water. There could be an effect on fish stocks in SA as there will not be the usual interchange throughout the whole system, and further down the track less water overall.

Meanwhile, more fish are likely to die, no rain is on the horizon, and we’re only halfway through the long, hot summer.

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