This is a sad topic but one that needs to be shared. There is so much false information, blaming and comments going around in the media around the fish kills. So, with that I wanted to produce a series of podcast, articles, blog posts and videos interviewing knowledgeable people and sharing the reasons behind these fish deaths.

This is the third major fish kill along the Murray River we will have seen in 12 years. We as humans have caused this issue and it’s up to us to fix it. This is a MUST LISTEN and SHARE episode.

I was lucky enough to be joined by environmental science teacher Peter Phillips who is completing his PhD on the flooding along the Murray River. He spent over 50 days floating the Murray River in the 2016 floods and has an in depth understanding on this river system.

In this episode we discuss a range of topics including blackwater, the current flooding and what’s causing it, what has happened in Shepparton and Echuca with the suspicious fish deaths. We also discuss the nature of the river and how the flows have changed over the past 50 years, the prediction of these current fish kills and what we need to do to stop this from happening again in the future.

Everyone who cares about native fish needs to listen to this episode so please share it with your friends. And let’s make a difference!

0:00 – introduction from Rhys about what is happening with flooding

8:15 – Overview of the flooding in the Murray, Goulburn, and Campaspe around Echuca

10:10 – Peter Phillips background, passion, and PhD study

11:30 – What is Blackwater and Hypoxic water?

14:55 – What is happening with the current floods and why the fish are dying around Echuca

24:30 – Dissolved oxygen and what fish need to survive

29:30 – What’s happening with the flood continued.

38:00 – Fish kills further downstream in the Little Murray, Gunbower Creek and the Murray River

41:00 – Why the fish kills have been so bad in the past decade

46:00 – What’s the solution? Is it going to get worse?

51:10 – How the riparian vegetation filters carbon from blackwater

54:00 – Will we see a massive fish kill this summer coming?

56:15 – IMPORTANT: Summary by Rhys on the issues and moving forward