For the Barkandji people, the crisis on the Barwon-Darling represents the biggest threat to their continued survival on country since the sheep invaded.
Hundreds of thousands of fish have died in low-oxygen water. Here’s what actually happened to the oxygen, and why we might see more deaths in the coming weeks.
The new Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council aims to overcome a management problem faced by many traditional owners: the fact that major rivers flow through lands home to many different groups and languages.
Residents of a small Victorian town realised that delicious water can be a curse as well as a blessing, when they lost a legal battle to stop a local farmer shipping groundwater to a nearby bottling plant.
As the health of the Murray Darling Basin is in decline, fish ear bones recovered from ancient Aboriginal camp sites can provide vital data about river health in the past.
The Murray-Darling Basin Plan has been politically fraught and mired in scandal. But environmental monitoring suggests that the health of the rivers is indeed improving – even if it will take decades.
A dozen leading researchers have issued an urgent call to action for the Murray-Darling Basin, arguing that the billions spent on water-efficient irrigation have done little for the rivers’ health.
Low flows in the Murray River in recent years have harmed tiny marine plants called phytoplankton, with consequences for local marine species and management.
SA Premier Jay Weatherill has announced a Royal Commission into breaches of the Murray Darling Basin agreement. But will it solve the long running problems with river management?
Executive Director and Professor of Fisheries and River Management, Gulbali Institute (Agriculture, Water and Environment), Charles Sturt University, Charles Sturt University