Water management must be holistic: Dalton

Mrs Dalton said she was extremely concerned about the blame being laid incorrectly on upstream communities for the ‘‘apparent’’ extinction of the Yarra pygmy perch.

Recent reports indicate none of the species has been found in the Murray River for three years and it could be the first freshwater species to be lost from the system under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

“There are a few things we need to take into account before jumping to false conclusions about fish at the end of the system being at risk from upstream communities. The lower end of the system has received significant amounts of water since 2010, but the species has not recovered? We need to ask why this is the case?’’ Mrs Dalton said.

“We are pouring water through the system and creating ideal breeding conditions for carp. The lower end of the system has received significant amounts of water consistently since 2010, so it’s no wonder South Australian scientists have reported 30,000 juvenile carp in one net, but very little recovery of native species.”

Mrs Dalton said after talking to scientists, she discovered much of this was due to the lack of a holistic approach to threatened species recovery, where water was only one important component and there was a lack of focus at a basin level on fish.

“We have this fixation on the Lower Lakes and Coorong in South Australia, but what about the rest of the basin?” Mrs Dalton asked.

“We need flow regimes that protect all of the system, not just the end of the system.”

Mrs Dalton said she was aware scientists had warned the MDBA extinction events would occur under the Basin Plan because of its ‘single water’ focus.

“We need a multiple measures approach to the recovery of threatened species within the Basin Plan, the reintroduction of the native fish strategy with 10 years committed funding, rather than pouring water down the system with the ‘just add water’ approach that we continue to see,’’ she said.

‘‘We need active recovery plans focused on breeding and restocking, habitat restoration, fish passage and invasive species control, all in combination.

“The investment in each measure needs to be similar, and money being spent on further water acquisition would be better spent on other measures that scientists know are needed.

“We have $13 billion of taxpayers’ money spent on a ‘plan’ to protect the environment, but it is obviously not working.”

Mrs Dalton claimed the failure to adopt a broader approach to problems with the Basin Plan was not just threatening some fish species.

“The loss of irrigation water for rice will impact the threatened Australian Bittern, which uses rice crops as breeding and feeding grounds.

‘‘Southern bell frogs do the same … and sadly the list just goes on, because a growing crop is not just helping to feed people, but along the way is providing a vital ecological system,’’ she said.

“In building the Basin Plan this has all been forgotten.

‘‘I would encourage the MDBA and other water managers to adopt a more flexible approach that benefits everyone in the basin, not a select few.’’