North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Looks like it is not just PFAS that Territory fishos have to worry about ... https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... ly-tenfold

Note the comments on Tipperary Station, a little upstream of the Daly's tidal section.

Is AFANT across this?

Those trees are so unsightly, get rid of them

Isnt Tipperary Station now owned by the Chinese like the rest of the NT?

Potentially huge issue, the local run-off might be flowing brown while clearing is going on, then the river catchments will cop extra cattle hoof erosion and potentially added nutrients and poisons from more intense cattle stocking.

Flying Fox station is the Roper catchment and Tipperary is the Daly.

You don't hear much about the chemicals in stock drenches and plunge dips. As a hobby farmer I've taken an interest in the drenches that go into livestock, they are very toxic chemicals that are basically shat into paddocks if animals are not kept in holding yards after drenching.

So it can wash into waterways. These drenches are highly toxic to aquatic life. Look at the sheet attached for details on one type, it is toxic to aquatics "with long-term effects". If you squirted this in the water you'd be in trouble if caught, but there's no worries putting it in a river indirectly via a cow's arsehole.

Will drench (as well as lice/fly and other treatments) become the next PFAS as NT cattle stations clear land and ramp up stock levels?

I suspect the problem would be when the Top End's early Build-up storms wash it into rivers and it moves slowly until monsoonal rains wash it away.

Each negative input must now be considered as part of the greater whole - on the Daly you have PFAS, the Edith River mine, the cattle stations ramping up, Katherine township's input, and water drawdown for agricultural use.

When does it reach critical mass? Keep in mind that gill nets are nothing compared with the near permanent damage that can be done via habitat destruction.

What can be done? With clearing there must be big buffer zones suited to Top End conditions. Rivers should be declared living things and regularly tested for contaminants, with effective regulation and policing.

Also here, note diversification of pastoral leases, it likely means more demands on water, and more use of herbicides/pesticides ... http://www.ntca.org.au/news/2017/oct/18 ... volatility

It beggar belief that this kind of land clearing practice is still allowed to take place and that the cleared materials are simply burned. If burning it is all that it is good for, then at the very least process it and send it south as firewood.
I must admit, I am as naive as the next city boy, but this appears to be the epitome of unsustainable farming.

There needs to be a balance with this…poor farmers in QLD can't even cut a single tree down thanks to bully leftist state government.

Needs to be some balance, I am not saying farmers shouldn't be able to clear land but stripping it and raping it for a few years and then wondering why it's barren within a decade is the other extreme.

All for Sandalwood too I'd imagine.
Drive over the rail overpass at East Arm and check out the huge run off drains from the cattle yards.
Latest Google maps (old but pinned lat & long) shows a ver real uncertain reality too!!

Take a trip to tassie bush if you want to see clearing. Canada is also smashing the poop out of the land there but at least they replant with original native species.
re the farmers, many have replanted out vast areas and have reaped the benefits

I saw a lot of clear felling in africa as well. just rip and burn. one was cleared to grow flowers. the flower business wne tbroke and now the land is just eroded to buggery
we never learn

I think that's enough bad news for now, it's depressing.

Time for Xmas cheer!

The Adelaide River is still pristine and unpolluted. Have a beer with Kai and The Dumb Blonde at Goat Island Lodge this Xmas and catch some clean fillets while you are up there

The planet is fked because of humans. We destroy everything, the chemical DO wash into the rivers, not maybe, then when the monsoon arrives they wash away?? So does that mean the the problem has been washed away and fixed/forgotten??. The problem/blame lies with the decision/policy makers and that is the current government and no doubt future governments as all they see while they are in office is MONEY. That is the same across the world. We continue to kill the planet, century after century after century. Once we push it too far and the human race goes 'SHITE' it will be far too late to recover the damage. There is NO DOUBT this planet because of humans has a used by date.

My daughter, 8, said "the sea might be acid then" when we were discussing the prospect of her going diving when she is grown up. I couldn't f....g believe it. I said "waddya mean?" but she didn't want to discuss it further. Made me choke up to know kids are so acutely aware of the decline of the planet. She learned this from school as I don't mention pollution and AGW etc at home lest I cause them grief.

But yes, it's a worry. It is more than a global warming issue, it is multiple factors that will eventually reach critical mass.

Liken the planet and its environment to a steel bar, strong, resilient, and flexible. It can bend many times without weakening then quickly fatigues and breaks.

What this means personally is lots of rules or expectations no longer matter to me, I can pollute, ignore limits and restrictions, consume things that are bad for me and the planet, zero care or responsibility is the paradigm.

After all we have been bending the bar long and hard for a fair bit of time.

wonderwobler wrote:Liken the planet and its environment to a steel bar, strong, resilient, and flexible. It can bend many times without weakening then quickly fatigues and breaks.

I like that and Im going to use it!

Matt, I wonder how long it will be until kids start to hold us responsible for the lack of action on our part because its all too hard for us

I think there has already been some interesting legal cases.