Ep 4: Lee Baumgartner, from fish kills to bushfires to COVID-19 - what's next?

“You might not have realised but there’s a war between the northern basin and southern basin. There’s already people talking about ‘Why should they get more water than we get water?’ If I look overseas, I do a lot of work in the Mekong and Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are impacted by what happens in China, the upstream country…the water wars are already starting. What is the one thing people need to live? Good quality water.”

Professor Baumgartner reflects on the Menindee fish kills one year on, the impact of the 2019-2020 bushfires on our water systems, and where we’re headed as our unrelenting desire for water impacts those around us.

Professor Lee Baumgartner is a Freshwater Fish Ecologist who designs, supervises and undertakes into various aspects of the biology and ecology of freshwater fish. His research has been in several broad areas, including fish passage and fish migration, dietary interactions among native fish species, the impact of human disturbance on aquatic ecosystems and, more recently, the effectiveness of native fish stocking.

Professor Baumgartner’s work has also focused on developing innovative methods for assessment (such as the adaptation of sonar technology to for migration studies) and improving existing fish collection techniques. Much of his work is applied and has fed back into adaptive management strategies which have resulted in state and national policy development. Recently, he has been involved in research activities in the lower Mekong Basin; specifically understanding mechanisms to help fisheries recover from human disturbance and quantifying the value of fish in a food security context.

Episode recorded: 7 April 2020 (BONUS EP 2019)

Host: Jess Mansour-Nahra, Bonus episode Wes Ward, Charles Sturt Media

Production: Adam Thompson, 2MCE

Due to our many regional locations, Charles Sturt’s podcast recordings range from phone, to studio, to in-person recordings, leading to some natural variance in recording sound.

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