SAVE OUR RIVER SYSTEM

Ecology on the brink?

A Meeting of Concerned People to discuss:

More info: Jasper F 0427022069 or Joe 66214878

The Living Richmond River Group

'RIPARIAN WISHES' TO YOU ALL!

Lots'a News and new info' for everyone – even tho' the January meeting drew only a few bods' – not enough for a 'thinktank' of a meeting!

NEWS:

1. Fishers' down-the lower Richmond, below Coraki from Christmas to N-Year and beyond were asked what they caught in the hot weather; 'only catfish' or 'catfish and Dogfish' were the replies received; upon being quizzed, some family groups stated that they now resort to eating these inferior species, after cooking'em in lots of garlic!

2.One catamaran owner and his sons sailed-up from Ballina before Christmas, with fishing-lines in-tow, only to announce to me at Lismore Wharf- where they moored for some days before Christmas, that they got no bites whatsoever.

3. Australian BASS,courtesy of NSW Fisheries are bred-up, and re-released into the Richmond(+ Wilsons') River waters ever yyear; according to Lindsay Doust and others in the few fishing clubs still in existence, the Bass that Fisheries' breed are released here at up-to 18,000 per 3 months, and so,this species is mainly what professional anglers now catch ; netting at and around Coraki was observed 'in full force' on and around the 'clearing-up of the waters' after many weeks hot and no-rain, after the 08th February; Could it be that only this one species Bass' is the only native fish species that does not eat the known toxic fruit or seeds of TWWs such as Castor Oil Plant, Privet spp., Camphor laurels, Coxcomb Coral or Wild Tobacco bushes – all of which adorn the riverbanks of significant stretches of the Richmond's catchment?

4.RICIN; Most Toxic Natural compound TOXIN; Apparently, the 'Web references, scientific texts and Fisheries' experts all-agree, that this weed—toxin, categorically known as the 'Most-toxic natural chemical known to humans, can or could well be toxic to fish (BUT) no definitive reference #3 exists in the discipline of Toxicology….or could it be that Fisheries experts don't relay care, or want to perform the needed test-Experiments? OUR 'Living Richmond Group' AIM/S; to ensure that the river waters are analysed for the toxins almost certainly leaching, volatilizing, or slowly but surely, from numerous non-point sources are accumulating in the river waters; some of them resilient compounds, others narcotic & cumulative/'killer' chemicals to soft-bodied biota at the base of the riparian 'Food Pyramid'.

5. A meeting in January, with Dr-Prof. L.Davidson of SCU resulted in an agreement that to-date water sampling for toxic compounds has not been performed at 'the best time'/timing is important, and in-the middle of a downpour, downstream of farms in the mid- and upper-catchment, IS THE opportune time to obtain freshwater samples; this has not happened to date, hence, no-show for any toxic compounds! (Leigh Davidson confirmed that glyphosphate was/is the only toxic chemical that SCU is reliably known to have 'looked for' by prior analyses of Richmond River water samples.

6. Macadamia (AMS') Society agrees to assist in-principle, to investigate the toxic pesticide residues most-likely to be washing-off or through the soils in macadamia farms, into rivers & streams; official letter to-go to the AMS Executive in the first instance.

NEXT MEETING to discuss achieving our Aims and the Quotations needed from water analysis laboratories in Qld, NSW, W.A. or Victoria….:
MARCH 04 @ Coraki, > 5 PM
+ BBQ & Meet All Welcom e/Bring a Plate
Location: by-the-River++N-Reserve
(if hot'n'fine…..; Bring a Canoe (optional)
@ 830 Oaklands Road, East/S.E.Coraki, (home of Narelle Bell ; 66 832137) ,