Thats great news about Cania but wasnt this post about the fish in Wuruma?
Whats happening there?
I have emailed the premier, spoken to the press & need an update!
I live 600kms away so if you want my support to help those fish, an up date would be apreciated.
Toppy
TOPPY,
Wurruma is stuffed.
Really they have already taken too much water out.
The thing is, due to this fish kill, we have made noises and I am sure fish at other dams will be saved as we have shown what happens when too much water is removed.
It will take years to get Wuruma back to where it was a few weeks ago.
Hopefully we can use this KILL as proof of what will happen if the dam is taken to this level again.
Hi Everyone,
Well it took a big effort but the results in the end were rewarding as from today Cania is sitting at 5,000 Megalitres. The tap was turned off early this morning.Now we need to keep in mind that this event happened ,that is the tap being turned off. How many times have you been told that the release must go ahead and word "sorry" has been used. As I see it, we not only have to lobby government, but get the local water advisement committee to under stand why water is need to protect fish stocks in dams and get their support.Keep in mind that Cania ""CAN"" be drained to the tap if they wish. So a level is still a needed for Cania for future releases. Evaporation is needed to be coincided when talking low levels as it is so high. Wuruma dam is currently at 2,430 Megalitres for a dam that holds 167,400
Megalitres twice that of Cania holding capacity.
So would you not think this is far to low of a level for such a huge holding capacity dam.After doing the research on Cania dam we would like to see a level of 6,000 megalitres on Cania and a level 10,000 Megalires on Wuruma.taking into the account that evaporation will effect these big time this summer.Wuruma has a bad track record with fish kills there was one some time back and I seen it. It was the worst thing you wanted to see EVER. The turtles were trying to leave the water and were crawling out heading for who knows where. The pools in the dam were stinking from dead fish and locals tried to rescue them and were translocating them to weirs some distance away. This could very well happen again remembering evaporation is yet to come to Wuruma for the summer. With the talk that we are to get Hotter summers in the future it is needed to keep this in mind when talking a level for all dams. Has anyone ever seen a lung fish in Wuruma ????? I have and I wonder if I
ever will see another.
Did you know Cania has lung fish???Well it has Platypus as well. Below is a link to Sun Water storage web site.All dams are also on the
site.
The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link
attachments: Shortcut to: http://www.sunwater.com.au/water_store.htm
We need to keep in mind the event of the tap turn off at Cania, and use this as a tool in the future. I will say we don't need to yell at Sun Water, but we do need to start
screaming about low levels.
From the figures available on Sunwaters site;
Wuruma, Maximum 165,400 ml
29/8/06 2.430 ml
Keep im mind we have had hot days with futher loss through evaoporation.
How many more dead fish in the days to come.
Who Cares?
I'm sure I'm gonna cop some flak for this, but here goes anyway.
First I want to say that the stocking group at Eidsvold does a great job, and have done for many years. I was fairly heavily involved in a stocking group not too far down the road and travelled up to fish the dam a bit as well as attend their competions.
I know its sad, tragic even, that this fish kill has happened. BUT, the fact is that Wuruma has never been a dam that gets a lot of runoff water, it is allways at a relatively low level. I think it has been full twice since it was built in around 68. Maybe someone in power could have done something to maintain the water level a bit higher, but should they?? The dam was built to maintain a reliable water supply to towns and farms downstream. I know I would be pretty peaved if I owned a farm and had to sit and watch crops die from lack of water, just because someone had decided to put a few fish in the local waterhole. There needs to be some sort of balance, maybe an aerator is the way to go, the government could help with the cost, as would stocking groups from miles around. If it meant that water quality was maintained AND the farmers got access to their water, how could anyone lose? Maybe there is another solution, probably an obvious one, that everyone is overlooking, but I don't think withholding water from farmers is the right way to go about it. Maybe the community could look at some way of buying/renting the last 5000Ml of water, after all it is a saleable rescource. I don't know.
However, it is no surprise to anyone that the dam is at this super low level yet again, and the stocking group would have expected it. It is a risk we take when we choose to release sportsfish into a waterway, that it may, or more likely, will dry up to a point that could be deadly to the fish we stocked. There will still be fish in Wuruma to catch, you might have to work a bit harder for them, but they will be there. And those fantastic volounteers will working harder than ever to get stocks back to where they should be. They do a fantastic job and I know they will continue to do so. Keep your chins up people, its not the end of the world.
Dave.
The bastards in charge need to be knocked on the head. Very disheartening!
why does the government have to wait until the levels are so low to start thinking about doing something??
this never should have happened >
This is a link with all the info to get started on saving fish & maintaining water quality. www.aquasonic.com.au
If you ask me the people putting the fish into these places should take a bit of the responsibility. The fishing community including myself should be doing everything in OUR power to over see our stocked impoundments just as much if not more so than the state Government. After all its for our enjoyment!
When the water level does drop below the buffer thats being hashed out now, what then? Are we going to blame someone for evaporation!
The water quality is just as important as the level & it doesnt need to be expensive. A joint venture could see equipment shared between impoundments at times of need. The fish stocks are a valuble asset to
Qld & most take way too long to mature into trophy size. So keeping them alive is critical if people want to continue catching 1mtr plus Barra & stud Bass etc....
Airation of dangerously low impoundments needs to start somewhere, If its cost effective & easy to maintain it could be implemented all over Australia. Blue/Green Algae is just another reason for improving the quality & could well be a contributing facter in going ahead with this.
There would be certain things to consider, water depth, compressed air systems in deeper water over surface paddle wheels that put out more oxygen but can warm the water more on hot days. Maybe air would be best during the day & paddles at night as Barra & Bass feed there better during low light anyway.
I dont want to harp on about this, but I got a bit stired up with the Pics early on during this post & hate seeing any creatures suffer needlessly!
If I have any support in taking this further it would be appreciated.
Cheers
Paul Topp
email: wenopump@bigpond.net.au
Just thinking out loudbut would netting, sedating and transporting fish from low level dams to higher level dams be an option?
Then reintroduce a similar size and number of fish sourced from those release points at a later date when hopefully things have improved.
Straddie, anything is possible!
Have you been involved with this method before?
Toppy
that aint good
Don't they already translocate big barra from the sediment ponds on some of the dams by electrofish and reinput into the dams.
Heard it was done quite successfully at Lake Julius.
There are a lot of really clever people out there, but getting them organise might be the problem
Or getting the Govt to fund them would be worthwhile.
Trev
Fish for the future, enjoy the present but think of your children.
Heya Toppy
Sorry no experience at all, just a suggestion I was tossing up in the hope it may have been useful.
Good on ya straddie, a few extra ideas dont go a stray.
Many brains are better than one!
cheers
Paul
>
> There once was a mouse who looked through the crack in
> the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package.
> "What food might this contain?" thought the mouse. He was
> devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
>
> Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the
> warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a
> mousetrap in the house!"
>
> The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and
> said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to
> you, but it is of no consequence to me, I cannot be
> bothered by it."
>
> The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a
> mousetrap in the House!"
>
> The pig sympathized but said, "I am so very sorry Mr.
> Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.
> Be assured that you are in my prayers."
>
> The mouse turned to the cow. She said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse,
> I'm sorry for you. But it's no skin off my nose."
>
> So the mouse returned to the house, head down and
> dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.
>
> That very night a sound was heard throughout the house
> like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.
>
> The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
> darkness she did not see that it was a venomous snake
> whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the
> farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and
> she returned home with a fever.
>
> Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
> soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for
> the soup's main ingredient.
>
> But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and
> neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed
> them, the farmer butchered the pig.
>
> The farmer's wife did not get well. She died; and so many
> people came for her funeral the farmer had the cow
> slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
>
> So next time you hear that someone is facing a problem
> and think that it doesn't concern you, remember that when
> one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.
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