Dead Lungfish

[ellicat]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-07-14/shredder-blamed-for-mass-lungfish-kill/2794822

A conservation group says thousands of endangered lungfish were killed in January's flood in the Burnett River in southern Queensland.

Wide Bay-Burnett Conservation Council president Roger Currie says he has information that thousands of lungfish were found dead in the Burnett River estuary near Bundaberg.

Mr Currie says they died going over the Paradise Dam spillway.

He wants the State Government to release data on the number of fish killed at Paradise Dam during the flood.

"Thirty-seven metre step spillway has been nicknamed the 'shredder' by the experts involved in lungfish management in Queensland," he said.

"Their predictions were that basically the first time that a significant flood went over, the lungfish population would be virtually decimated."

Mr Currie is calling on Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser to order SunWater to release all data on lungfish deaths due to Paradise Dam.

"If this information is correct and thousands of lungfish have disappeared from the Burnett River as a result, and when we combine that with what's occurred in the Brisbane River, potentially the species has suffered what's considered to be a significant impact under the Federal Act," Mr Currie said.

"We think the Queensland Government should be held accountable for that."

The State Government has asked the Wide Bay-Burnett Conservation Council to provide it with evidence of the lungfish deaths.

Treasurer Andrew Fraser says he is happy to review the matter.

"I'm happy to see the evidence that they've got and to investigate it," he said.

"I just remind people that this is a conservation group that pursued legal action for many years against this very issue and they lost their case comprehensively.

"If they've got any evidence, I'm happy to look at it."

[Manni79]

Plenty coming over the NPD wall. Just before closed season Jords and I had a quick flick for Bass and saw 9 Lungfish caught in a bout an hour just on bait. All looked pretty healthy

[Luc53]

They this, they that

Like the treasurer said, show me the proof!!

Hopefully it's better quality than the platypus in opera trap proof!!

Luc