With shocking fish kills now reported in the Macquarie, Bell, and Little Rivers, along with the Buckinbah Creek, the ability for the region's waterways to recover has now come under a more intense spotlight than ever before.
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The community is asking what has happened to promised fishways, meant to be started back in 2011, with asset managers Water NSW yet to strike a blow in all but 9 years since the environmental offset offerings.
In the modern world, fish kills have happened and will happen forevermore, however, with the problem exacerbated by declining overall numbers, blocked fish passage and many other man-made issues, the system's ability to recover at a reasonable rate is under question.
With serious fish kills annihilating tens of thousands of natives upstream of Dubbo, the system needs clear fish passage for the affected section of river to recover.
Just downstream of the South Dubbo Weir, which is fitted with a state-of-the-art fish ladder, sits the Water NSW controlled asset, the North Dubbo Weir.
This structure effectively blocks natural fish migration much of the time.
Downstream from the north Dubbo fish blockage, sits the Narromine Weir, another imposing figure that sees fish trapped and unable to push upstream, or swim back downstream.
Below that structure is the very large Gin Gin Weir, which not even the fittest of salmon could scale with the structure completely blocking fish passage for decades.
With a safety upgrade to Burrendong Dam undertaken from 2011, Water NSW agreed to address fish passage downriver, with 3 offset fishways announced as environmental projects.
The public is yet to see any progress whatsoever on fishways proposed for the Gin Gin Weir, Gunningbar Offtake, and the Marebone break.
The community is now questioning if a lack of action on the proposed fishways will see an extremely slow recovery of the Macquarie River and its tributaries, following catastrophic fish kills that have killed Murray cod estimated to be up to 40 years of age.
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