Murray River Blues

As you will know from my first blog, I have been visiting Hindmarsh Island near the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia for over 40 years. It used to be a popular water-recreation place. During that time the river has gradually deteriorated until recently a crisis has developed which government and administrators seem impotent in repairing.

Drought, water mismanagement and continued government inaction has brought us to the stage in early 2008 when mud flats surround the island.

Some talk, some promises but the water level continues to fall, the salinity rises and the trees die. Farmers and town inhabitants struggle to get sufficient supply.

There has been a change of federal government and the upper reaches of the Murray-Darling system has been flooded by rain during February but still there is no water in the lower reaches. Towns have been inundated. The many storage areas and backwaters of the feeding tributaries have filled and irrigators have siphoned off what they can. Water does not flow through into the Murray.

The water is not shared. What falls here is ours, is the prevailing attitude. It is the kind of selfish self-serving attitude that takes countries to war. We are one country but the administration of this giant river system is fragmented and the well being of the whole system is not the first priority. People in South Australia are angry and when we hear of Irrigators talking of re-planting water hungry cotton crops and towns folk pleased they can use their garden hoses again, we are aghast at the selfish ignorant attitudes displayed. We are all frustrated that administrators do not take control and ensure that the whole river benefits from the availability of new water.

Write to your Parliamentary representatives and tell them what you think! Will we see an improvement in this scene when next I post? One can only hope or, if you're inclined, pray.

Carp with no fear

I have heard carp called “rabbits of the river”. I have heard they are bottom feeders. That they stir up the mud and disturb the habitat of our native fish. ‘Tis said there are too many in the River Murray. I have even caught a few and heaved them onto the river bank thinking I was making a small contribution to the local ecology. But I was unprepared for the sight that greeted me on a recent Thursday when I strolled down to the water’s edge.

I have been visiting Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island in particular for over forty years and rarely has the muddy bottom been visible like it is now. Where there is normally a meter or so of water, now there are several meters of flat gray mud along the shore line.

However, on Thursday the wind changed direction, pushing the water back creating a shallow covering a few centimeters deep. Here a dozen carp were feeding, plowing their fat lips through the mud. Most of them over forty centimeters long. Their sagging, unsupported fins and glistening scaly backs breaking the water surface. I ran for my camera.

Carp feed by sucking in the mud and filtering out the invertebrates and a little of the plant matterwhich they prefer. Here they were gorging themselves seemingly without fear of predators. Not a pelican within a hundred meters. “Are the pelican’s over fed?” I wondered.

On Friday when the waters retreated again, the evidence of their activities was exposed. If I had not been there to witness their foraging I would have been mystified at these strange thick squiggles in the mud. Here is the evidence of what a few carp can do in just a short time to disturb the riverbed.

At first I thought the Carp were gone, but as I scanned along the river I could see a several Carp breaking the surface in the distance. I had regretted not taking the opportunity to catch a few, for the benefit of the river as it were. I then tried, but the line was old and easily broke. I left frustrated but certainly intrigued by what our sadly depleted river had revealed.