Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumAustralia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse
Source: The Guardian
Australia launches emergency relocation of fish as largest river system faces collapse
There are doubts the Noahs Ark plan for the Lower Darling will be enough to prevent more mass fish kills
Anne Davies
@annefdavies
Mon 9 Sep 2019 07.06 BST
Last modified on Mon 9 Sep 2019 07.22 BST
Faced with a looming ferocious summer with little rain forecast, the New South Wales government has embarked on a Noahs Ark type operation to move native fish from the Lower Darling part of Australias most significant river system to safe havens before high temperatures return to the already stressed river basin.
Researchers have warned of other alarming ecological signs that the Lower Darling River part of the giant Murray-Darling Basin is in a dire state, following last summers mass fish kills.
Professor Fran Sheldon, from Griffith Universitys Australian Rivers Institute, said only one surviving colony of river mussels had been found along the river and there were signs that river red gums were under severe stress.
If the river red gums die, and some are hundreds of years old, there will be a domino effect. Banks will collapse, there will be massive erosion and it will send sediments down the river.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/09/plan-to-relocate-fish-as-australias-largest-river-system-faces-ecological-collapse
Sanity Claws
(21,822 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)Jesus...
NickB79
(19,114 posts)When flows do return to normal, the fish will be able to migrate to their homes back upstream, without the need for additional intervention, Marshall said.