North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

If you have noticed more sediment in the Daly the past few years, eg at Browns, it might not be lack of rain. Scroll down to the bit about Tipperary Station ... https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... n-15-years

You can only imagine the erosion and silt flow this clearing would cause when it rains.

And then, if stocked, all the cattle stomping around.

AFANT?

Be interesting to hear wonderwobler's take on this.

AFANT???

Do they still exist.
I haven't heard anything from them since Tristan Sloan left the job.

In these times I unfortunately have become accustomed to not being surprised by anything humans are capable of, I’m completely desensitised.

We routinely alter the environment to suit our existence regardless of the impact, even when it will be a negative one in the long term.

The lack of concern and outrage apparent with this thread is indicative of the complacency or self-centred attitude of those who will be the first to experience the irreversible change to the river and its ecology.
Those who read this who have children and grandchildren will need to manufacture an excuse other than “jobs and growth” when those generations ask why the river died.

Those who make money from selling boats and engines, tackle and clothing, accommodation and tours and all those who are part of the purported $30 million dollar plus recreational fishing industry that is touted to be a powerful and influential demography are silent.

Make no mistake, the river is under relentless attack. Land clearing, gold mining, broad acre irrigation and water harvesting are growth industries justified by an insatiable want for the dollar by people.

In a different thread on this site and local newsprint there are calls of voting out government, resigning from unions, holding protest meetings, a general rebellion against an introduction of an insignificant law.

Yet we stand idle and silent as a living river is gradually murdered.

Might as well go and have a beer in the boat.

Need to gather satellite images of the Daly from the past few years. I'll use my video software to create a timeline montage to show the changes.

On the question of AFANT and its influence.

It is not widely known that there is a far more influential (as far as government is concerned) committee called the Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee – RFAC. This body reports directly to the fisheries minister and the NTG

RFAC’s members are representative of ALL recreational anglers and are THE most influential arrangement of people regarding rec fishing in the NT, AFANT has a single representative on the committee of a round a dozen people. AFANT don't like to mention this arrangement.

This committee is charged with deciding what to spend the $50 million dollars of funding on the government has recently provided for rec fishing in the NT.

Not one cent is being directed toward ensuring there are healthy waterways for fish to live in.

Boat ramps in remote, seasonal and little visited locations, car parking areas with security and pretty toilet blocks will be of little benefit if they service waterways that don’t have fish.

RFAC should recommend that a decent chunk of this funding should be utilised engaging legal counsel to prevent any further unsustainable development in the Daly River catchment, and fund independent research into the health of the river.

Contact your RFAC member and have your say, good luck with that.

Quoted - "Meanwhile, further north, vast tracts of land are being earmarked for clearing. In the relatively lawless Northern Territory, approvals for land clearing have jumped more than tenfold in the past two years, compared with the preceding 12 years, according to figures from the NT government analysed by the Wilderness Society."

Disgusting, when its all about the water and the donations from who's who to the parties involved and whilst other ventures are in the media being scrutinised heavily, these permissions are being granted by the very politicians that seek the praise of goodness by the public and are slipping by without accountability.

2 headed beasts as usual...

While it's great to see someone like the Wilderness Society is keeping track, how do we stop these events before they occur?

.05 to go & fish and .5 for wisdom!

Tidal pumping moves an awful lot of silt into estuaries up as far as the tidal influence exists each year, but on further. One of the issues with the Ord with significant flood events removed by the dam.

Matt Flynn wrote:Need to gather satellite images of the Daly from the past few years. I'll use my video software to create a timeline montage to show the changes.

The USGS site has images dating back at least to May 1976.

Dan

This quote is interesting ...

"I have lived in farming communities on and off for 45 years starting in the
1970's........whilst not disputing the core message of this article, especially
for grazing land in Qld. (and the NT) , I must say that there has been a huge
paradigm shift in what was a universal "clear at all costs" mindset.

In my youth, properties with larger trees saw indiscriminate ringbarking
(done by hand back then.......dozers were expensive) "because they were
there", the farmers doing this were all older and had the attitudes of the
C19th and early C20th.

The paradigm shift in my lifetime has been enormous....not only had the best
cropping land already been cleared (Victoria/Tasmania are the best examples
of this) but the value of vegetation cover is well and truly understood and
huge efforts to re-vegetate have received massive community/farmer support.

Things are different in the north.......today the clearing frenzy is driven less by
family farms but by corporate entities, not only do they flog their land (overstock,
devegetate, ignore erosion mitigation and pest/weed control) but, often for tax
minimisation purposes, clear country that becomes unproductive in the medium
term......it is this short term return mentality, driven by investors and the "suits"
in board rooms that dictate the behaviours and not the old pseudo colonial
mindset that once did.

I know at least 6 station managers who managed beef properties in central/north
Qld. and the NT who were sacked or resigned when "ordered" to clear land and
increase stocking levels by their corporate bosses........I would argue the old
"clear at all costs" paradigm has largely disappeared......it is now increasingly
the corporate owners that drive the behaviour in more remote areas, a behaviour
that has largely ceased in the south."

Taken from comments under this story ... https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... landscape#

Wow wft is going on why isnt this known by the general public, unbelievable

cheers Craig

craig.g wrote:Wow wft is going on why isnt this known by the general public, unbelievable
cheers Craig

That's not part of the agenda.

If you are making claims of increased sediment and turbidity from land clearing, you firstly need to identify the source. Just remember that the Daly is a very big system with many land uses that don't help the amount of sediment in the river. Before you suggest that anyone is responsible, just make sure this is not seasonal and that you can pinpoint a source of the sediment.

No where near the Daly but a good start for the NT.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-09/s ... atenews_nt

Agree 100% with that Bacon.

Agree, but Tipperary's location gives it potential to be a big input. Need to look at what has been done, what is planned, what buffer zones are in place along the riverbank etc.