The Albanese government is lining up with the Greens against farmers to deliver landmark national water reforms.
The events leading up to the Menindee fish kill are unclear as equipment had been rendered unreliable for 40 days by last year’s floods.
The deaths have most likely been caused by low oxygen levels as floods recede,a situation made worse by fish needing more oxygen because of the warmer weather.
Floodwaters in the Darling River are expected to reach 10.7 metres in the town on Saturday,surpassing the highest flood level recorded in the town.
A flood peak laden with deoxygenated water is pouring into the Menindee Lakes system in Far West NSW,site of the catastrophic fish kills in 2019.
The Berejiklian government has told other states it wants the operating rules of one of the Murray-Darling Basin’s biggest lake systems changed to cut the risks of mass fish kills on the Darling River.
A red-alert for toxic cyanobacterial blooms has been issued for almost the entire Lower Darling River,with fears another big fish kill is imminent without significant new flows.
A unified effort will be needed to tackle the significant reduction in water forecast for Australia's food bowl,the Murray Darling Basin Authority warns.
More than 60,000 Murray cod were returned to the Darling River near Menindee after hundreds of thousands of fish were killed two years ago.
NSW's main irrigator lobby group pressed the Berejiklian government to place the state's water plans above the federal law and sought to tap water earmarked for the environment.
After massive fish death events in multiple locations across the basin over the past 18 months comes a welcome restocking.