Lenthall's Dam fish kill
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By Roger Currie
The IPA approval for the 2 meter raising of Lenthalls Dam on March 6th 2006 required that Widebay Water implement an effective fish way on the number 1 weir, which is 500mts upstream of the bridge where the Bruce Highway crosses the Burrum river. The recommendation came from Dr Sandra Brizga’s consultancy report in 2001. To date WBW have been procrastinating over the design choice between a vertical slot design similar to the one on the Mary Barrage, which uses 10 MGL a day or a fish lock system like the one on Ned Churchward Dam using about 5 MGL.
On Friday 10th I got a call from 7 local news about the fish kill, we travelled to a property at the foot of the weir, where we found hundreds of dead and rotting Bass averaging 1-2 kg, along the banks and hundreds floating in the river. On Monday we joined a local commercial fisho who took us downstream from the bridge where he set his net and due to the abundance of the bass, we got 55 in the first 5 minutes. The fisho told us that it is illegal for him to net them, but he wants them out of the river as they will all die and cause a huge impact , and they will eat all of the juvenile fish stocks, he guestimated that their could be several tonnes of them, as he had been getting 200-400 kg hauls.
The bass have come from Lenthalls Dam where they had been stocked by the local rec fishos a few years ago, in June when we received a large fresh they all moved down to the salt to spawn , now they cant get back up. So it’s a combination of overstocking, and ineffective passage that has lead to this ,its such an appalling waste of a resource as the legal catch limit is 2, and nobody will eat them now as they have osmo regulation ulcers on them which put people off .
The positive is that we have shamed WBW into calling an emergency meeting of relevant stakeholders to seek a resolution, possibly because I made a reference to the court case in the interview.
Enlarged photos here
stevem
Chemicals blamed for two-headed fish in Noosa River
Brian Williams and Sophie Elsworth
January 16, 2009
TWO farm chemicals being blamed for the spawning of millions of two-headed fish in the Noosa River may be banned within two years.
The grossly disfigured larvae were spawned at the Sunland Fish Hatchery from bass taken from the river late last year.
At least 90 per cent of the fingerlings were deformed and all died with 48 hours.
The hatchery owner, Gwen Gilson, and nearby residents have alleged that chemicals used by macadamia farms in the area may be the cause and the issue is under investigation.
The farmers at the centre of the row have declined to comment.
But a scientific committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pesticides has recommended the organochlorine insecticide endosulfan be prohibited.
With Australia a signatory to the convention, a phase out would follow, probably after 2011.
The other, the fungicide carbendazim, is being investigated by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority because of concerns it could cause abnormalities in animals.
The chemicals have variously been banned in countries such as the US and New Zealand and in Europe.
Aquaculture veterinarian Matt Landos said he would be concerned about drinking tank water from the area and of health impacts, especially on children, if the chemicals were involved.
APVMA spokesman Simon Cubit said the Federal Environment Department had joined the investigation into the chemicals.
Dr Cubit said more than 200 chemicals were registered for use on macadamias, including carbendazim and endosulfan.
“Hopefully these investigations will determine if chemicals were involved and, if they were, what those chemicals were,” Dr Cubit said.
If the chemicals had been properly used but had led to adverse environmental impacts, the authority would consider a ban.
Endosulfan and carbendazim have been linked to birth and reproductive defects, liver toxicity and cancer. Carbendazim was withdrawn from sale in the US in 2001.
Studies have found that endosulfan - an organochlorine and part of the same family of chemicals as DDT - affects hormones and reproduction in aquatic and terrestrial organisms and is particularly deadly to amphibians.
Endosulfan is under review by the US EPA and has been banned by the New Zealand Environmental Risk Management Authority.
Growcom pest management officer Gary Artlett said in a newsletter to growers that the long-term future for endosulfan was uncertain.
“While it is not a given that endosulfan will be banned, those horticultural industries that are currently reliant on endosulfan … would be wise to look for suitable alternatives,” Mr Artlett said.
Biosecurity Queensland chief Ron Glanville said an investigation into Ms Gilson’s claims first started two years ago but no evidence of chemical use on an adjoining property was found.
Dr Glanville said deformities in larvae could occur through things as simple as nutrient changes in the water.
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Reader Comments (2)
It's quite logical really, as dead fish eventually bob to the surface and get stranded on something even if it's the edge. And, as we know, whale strandings are generally put down to some problem with the whales themselves, and rarely to some human agent.
This means that if you ask if there have been any fish kills recently, you'll get the straight answer of "no" unless you know the new lingo.
Yours in trying to keep one step ahead of the Spin Doctors.
POLITICAL GRANDSTANDING is deplorable no matter who you are or are not.
Get your facts straight people and create your own credibilty.