Question Without Notice No. 194 asked in the Legislative Council on 15 June 2017 by Hon Rick Mazza
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
194. Hon RICK MAZZA to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Fisheries:
I refer to the May 2017 Murray River fish kill that the minister advised resulted in a conservative estimate of 30 000 dead fish.
(1) What research is being done or will be done to assess the impact of this fish kill on fish stocks?
(2) Given that the Murray River is an important recreational bream fishery, what is the likely impact upon recreational fishers?
Hon SAMANTHA ROWE replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. I provide this answer on behalf of the minister representing the Minister for Fisheries.
(1) Previous fish kills in the Murray River have seen stocks recover with time and it is anticipated that this will again be the case. The Department of Fisheries will work with Recfishwest to ascertain if recreational catches are returning to normal levels.
(2) Although short‑term reductions in fishing quality would be expected, it is unlikely that there will be long‑term negative impacts on bream stocks and recreational fishing in the Murray River.