Looming fish kill at Greens Lake prompts plea from fishers

All that’s needed is a scorcher of a day and northern Victoria’s Greens Lake will be choked with dead Murray cod and golden perch. But fishers say there’s something that can be done to stop that.

Roland Huber and his fellow fishers fear a major fish kill is imminent if northern Victoria’s Greens Lake does not receive water soon. Picture: Zoe Phillips

A CATASTROPHIC fish kill is about to hit northern Victoria’s Greens Lake, near Corop, which has been stocked with 337,000 Murray cod and golden perch over recent years.

Goulburn Murray Water decommissioned the lake as an irrigation storage eight years ago, but only now is the large shallow lake dropping to levels that threaten the survival of its native fish.

Goulburn Valley Association of Angling Clubs president Roland Huber said the lake was barely two metres deep and all that was needed was “a scorcher” to see thousands of fish go belly up.

Mr Huber said Water Minister Lisa Neville must allocate water to the lake, which has fallen from 70 per cent capacity three years ago to just 23.5 per cent, as of this week.

“GMW tell us it will go back to being an ephemeral lake, but what happens to the $1.5 million of RFL (recreational fishing licence restocking) revenue we’ve put in there,” Mr Huber said.

GMW has defended its decision to decommission the lake, with water delivery services manager Warren Blyth stating it had saved irrigators $200,000 a year in pumping costs and delivered 8300 megalitres of water savings.

Greens Lake location map.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Should Greens Lake be given water? Comment below

While some water has flowed into Greens Lake since it was decommissioned in 2013, GMW has warned greater automation along the Waranga Western Channel would reduce the likelihood of more outfalls replenishing the lake, unless there were local floods.

While the Andrews Government has created recreational water entitlements from savings in the Grampians Wimmera Mallee region, but Ms Neville appeared unwilling to do the same for anglers and campers using Greens Lake in GMW’s domain.

“The lake doesn’t have a recreational water entitlement and topping it up would mean water would have to come from other entitlement holders,” Ms Neville said.

“I’m not going to risk comprising the integrity of our water management framework and the protection it provides for entitlement holders such as farmers.”

The Victorian Government appears unmoved on concerns over fish in the decommissioned Greens Lake, citing a potential loss in entitlement for irrigators if it is topped up. Picture: Zoe Phillips

But that means little to anglers, with VRFish advocacy director Ben Scullin asking what the Minister would do once more than 300,000 Murray cod and Golden Perch floated to the surface.

“You watch the public outrage once that first one-metre Murray cod hits the surface,” Mr Scullin said.

“Some lakes punch above their weight and are worth fighting for. It’s (Greens Lake) an oasis for communities right across northern Victoria, from Echuca to Albury-Wodonga, to Shepparton and Kyabram.”