The Darling River fish kill is what comes from ignoring decades of science

The mass death of fish in Menindee Lakes is a disaster that has been a long time in the making. The story goes back to another disaster on the Darling River, a massive outbreak of blue-green algae that poisoned hundreds of kilometres of the river in 1991 and 1992. The outbreak was a dramatic illustration of decades of warnings from scientists and economists that too much water was being extracted from the river.

 ‘Events like the Menindee fish kill bring home the cost of
treating the environment as a cultural battleground.’ 

The first response was the imposition, in 1995 of a cap on extractions. The cap was meant as an emergency measure to prevent further disasters while a long-term policy was worked out. Nearly 25 years later, it is still in effect. The cap is supposed to be replaced later this year by a system of sustainable diversion limits, worked out on the basis of scientific evidence. But a litany of disastrous policy failures, of which the fish kill is among the more dramatic outcomes, cast doubt on whether this schedule can be met.

The sustainable diversion limits were worked out in a massive scientific and economic exercise as part of the Murray-Darling Basin plan, launched by the Howard government in 2007.

Read the story from The Guardian by John Quiggin - “The Darling River fish kill is what comes from ignoring decades of science."