Richmond River Fish Kill

[kingpig]

Hi all

I have just got back this afternoon from Ballina. I have fished the Richmond River and around this area for the past 25 years. I will post about the fishing I did in the chat sections. What I wanted to discuss was the very large fish kill that took place over the past three weeks.

We left Sydney on th 5th and drove straight into major flooding of the Northern Rivers. All the rivers from the Tweed down to the Clarence suffered from flooding but the Richmond got the biggest. The fish started to die about three days after the flood peaked.

As I said I have fished this river system for the past 25 years and flooding always meant great fishing as the clean salt water pushed up the river. It was a time for good catches of flathead, school jew and bream. However three days after the flood peak, I went to launch my boat and found four good sized flathead many bream and some blackfish all sick sitting in the shallows on the boat ramp. I actually scoped up three flathead in my scoopnet.

My son and I fished for two to three hours using fresh nippers close to the mouth of the river near the Porpose Wall and did not get a single bite.

Over the next three days thousands of fish died. Jew fish, flathead, Bream, Whiting, Mangrove Jack, Blackfish, Mullet, Bass even Toads and Mud Crabs. In one day Ballina Council picked up 8 tonnes of fish from three or four small areas of foreshore. There is no way to know the total quantity of fish that were killed. The River and large sections of the adjencent beaches and 1 kl to sea are now closed to all form of fishing.

This now the second large fish kill in the Richmond River after flooding the first being in 2001 when the river was closed for 7 months. The official reason given is rotting vegitation being flushed into the river and reducing the oxgen level so the fish drowned. These rivers have been subjected to frequent flooding in my liftime and I have never witnessed any fish kills before these last two.

I do not know the answer but as a fisherman it was very upsetting and sickening to see fish of a liftime and the breeding stock of millions of future fish washed up on the bank of a river or the beach dead and rotting.

Sorry this is so long

Cheers Kingpig

[jewgaffer]

A good hands on report on the Richmond River at Ballina Kingpig ! ........ The conditions up there are very bad indeed with not only fish dying but almost every other form of marine life as well including nippers, worms and crustaceans...... I spent the best part of a month up in Ballina recently from well before Christmas and moved out of the area heading for Forster on the 12th January, well after the big rains and floods came causing the entire evacuation of the residents of Lismore.

I was preparing to do a report on the current situation as a topic and received more updates only yesterday,however your report back says it all.

I do know that boats were sent out around the surf areas for days on end to clean up all the foam which was believed to be toxic, however I haven't been able to find out any more about the operation and my connections up there who are involved commercial fishing haven't been able to find out anything about the operation either. Apparently the Richmond River is closed to fishing indefinately at this stage.

Only time will tell.

Regards

jewgaffer