There’s plenty of finger pointing and blame shifting in this debate. I’m not here to perpetuate that, but to give exposure to the situation, and give support to a people powered solution that is solely aimed at helping the fish that are left in the Murray-Darling river.
Here are the facts: a combination of blue-green algal bloom and extreme high temperatures have resulted in a loss of oxygen in the water and caused a widespread fish kill throughout the river. The effects of this are extensive; local fish experts fear that this could potentially wipe out entire populations of native fish in the Darling river (Davies 2019).
Source: The Guardian, 9 January 2019 ‘ ‘Bloody disgrace’: ‘100-year-old’ fish die in Darling river – video’
Caption (from Guardian): “Menindee resident Dick Arnold and grazier Rob McBride show their dismay at the hundreds of thousands of native fish that have been killed along a stretch of the Lower Darling River in New South Wales in a second major incident. ‘This is nothing to do with drought, this is a manmade disaster’.”
More background information:
Davies, A, 2019. ‘Hundreds of thousands of native fish dead in second Murray-Darling incident’, The Guardian, 7 January, <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/07/hundreds-of-thousands-of-native-fish-dead-in-second-murray-darling-incident>.
Van Extel, C, 2019. ‘What caused the death of a million fish in the Murray-Darling Basin?’, ABC RN Breakfast, 9 January, <https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/a-million-fish-die-in-murray-darling-basin/10701144>.
Here is a solution: Some passionate, educated, and ingenious anglers, led by OzFish Sunraysia President, Braeden Lampard, have come up with a way to provide oxygen refuges for the surviving fish. These people have decided to act now, rather than play into blame politics which abound in media and government at the moment. These are highly knowledgeable and passionate people who have spent tireless hours putting together an action plan and a GoFundMe campaign – and WE can help make that plan a reality. (More below.)
To know more about Braeden’s Gofundme campaign, or to find out more about OzFish Sunraysia, and the progress of funding, check out the following links and consider donating to the cause.
To know more about this solution please clink the ‘GoFundMe’ link, or alternatively, head over to the ‘OzFish Sunraysia’ Facebook page for more info on the volunteers who banded together to make this happen. There you will also find more updates on the progress of funding etc.
There is also a Greenpeace petition you might like to sign which can be found here.
Please consider donating to the cause, and/or sharing the link/page to spread awareness. ♥️
Let’s SAVE OUR DARLING FISHES!
https://www.gofundme.com/creating-oxygen-refuges-in-the-darling-river
https://act.greenpeace.org/page/36639/petition/1?locale=en-AU
#savethedarlingriver #saveourdarlingfishes #environment #environmentalscience #environmentalist #peoplepower
THE WILD ALCHEMIST 