Save our Rivers.

[Dragonfly]

Hi, I am very pleased to be involved with a forum that will help in protecting our rivers and waterways and the environment. As an avid fisherman I spend a lot of time on the rivers and lakes across Australia but mainly the east coast and inland waters of NSW and Queensland.

One of my passions is conserving Murray Cod and other Native species including the very rare Trout Cod. I am involved in stocking programs and encouraging catch and release including put and take fisheries classified by the DPI.

Here is a pic of the Condamine River where I live, the headwaters of the Murray Darling basin, the longest river system in Australia. It drains the northern portion of the Darling Downs rising between Mt Superbus on the left and Wilsons Peak and you can see the river snaking down the valley from its beginnings where it continues to flow across the Darling Downs eventually becoming the Balonne then joins with the Barwon river (Barwon headwaters can be traced to the MacIntyre) then it is known as the Darling south of the Culgoa and Barwon Junction and eventually becomes part of the Murray River. Over 3000 k's long! Sadly, it is in terrible condition and the most comprehensive study of the Murray Darling System has just been undertaken. There is good news, some new populations of extremely endangered mountain galaxia have been discovered in remote creeks.






kind regards,
Chris.

[NigelWaring]

I think it was in the 30s that the engineer Cahill came up with a plan to divert some of the flood water from Queensland into the Murray Darling system, nothing came of it because the government of the day didn't want to spend the money during a recession. I do not know much about these things, it could be that such a diversion may cause a great deal of ecological damage or it may possibly help with the current problems of floods in Queensland and definite water shortages in the south. I'd be really interested in your comments Dragonfly, would it be a good or a bad thing?