Fish kill in hot, salty northern Victorian lake: Anglers demand action

Anglers have been warning for weeks that a fish kill was looming at Corop. Now it has begun — see the images.

Fish float top the surface and thrash around in the shallows at Fresh Water Lake, adjacent to Greens Lake at Corop in Victoria.

A SMALL fish kill has begun in Fresh Water Lake, adjacent to Greens Lake at Corop in northern Victoria.

Local anglers have taken photographs of dead carp floating on Fresh Water Lake, with others thrashing around in the shallows as the water temperature hits 29C and salinity levels surge to 17,000 EC units, about 20 times the human drinking water limit.

VRFish advocacy director Ben Scullin said GMW was out at Fresh Water Lake cleaning up dead fish, but the site asking what the minister would do once more than 300,000 Murray cod and Golden Perch floated to the surface.

Goulburn Valley Association of Angling Clubs president Roland Huber said locals were concerned neighbouring Greens Lake would soon suffer the same fate, but with far greater consequences.

Greens Lake has been stocked with 337,000 Murray cod and golden perch over recent years.

But Goulburn Murray Water has decommissioned both Fresh Water and Greens Lake to save irrigators $200,000 a year in pumping costs and deliver 8300 megalitres in water savings.

Rather than directing their anger at GMW, anglers, campers and the local community want Victorian Water Minister Lisa Neville to allocate a recreational water entitlement to the lake, to ensure the lakes’ survival.

Mr Huber said it was “devastating to see the condition of these lakes”.

“But nobody in government seems to care,” he said.

Fresh Water Lake is now just 0.5m deep, while Greens Lake is sitting at 21 per cent.

Arthur Rylah Institue fisheries researchers last week assessed the quality of water in Greens Lake as able to support the fish population.

ARI principal research scientist Jarod Lyon said the team found “good water quality and dissolved oxygen levels”.

No large-bodied native fish such as Murray cod or Golden Perch were found, but this is likely to be because, for fish health reasons, the surveys did not include the use of Gill Nets in deep water — which is the most likely technique to catch these species.

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