No, WWF, Murray-Darling Not a Mess

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Did you know that the greatest threat to the Murray-Darling river systems is an alien species of fish or weed to be released at some future date from somebody’s home aquarium?

That is a key conclusion in a report launch last week in Washington, USA, by theWorld Wildlife Fund (WWF) and entitled “World’s Top 10 River’s at Risk”.

Our Murray-Darling is included as one of the top 10 “most at risk” river and an “invasive species, especially from the aquarium trade” is considered the key threat.

Given the terrible state of many rivers in Asia, particularly China, and the projected increase in population in the next few decades in that region, I find it hard to believe that the Murray-Darling system even qualifies in the top 10 ranking. 

Then again, the report includes a river from each continent.  So, maybe the environment group just included the Murray-Darling to be sure of some publicity in Australia.
 
The new report’s release in Washington did generate a lot of publicity for WWF, but is the aquarium trade really a “key threat” to the Murray-Darling?

Cabomba is an exotic, invasive weed, still sold as an aquarium plant in some States, including Victoria, and considered a risk to the Murray. 

In places like Queensland the weed’s spread has been aided by the deliberate “seeding” of waterways to ensure supply for the aquarium trade.   Strangely, the report makes no mention of Cabomba.

A key invasive fish identified as a major problem right now in the WWF report is carp –
a fish that was not introduced recently or from the aquarium trade.

According to the new WWF report, native fish species such as the silver perch, freshwater catfish and the large Murray cod are all “in rapid decline” while numbers of invasive species have increased.

This may have been the case 40 years ago, but the available data and recent comment from head of the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Dr Wendy Craik, suggests otherwise.

Native fish numbers are on the increase, while numbers of carp, for example, are in decline. 
 
The day after the WWF report was released, Dr Craik said despite extreme dry conditions, things are looking up for the native fish of the Murray, with population increases reported at various points along the river.

Since 1996 A$2 billion has been allocated to recover water to increase environmental flows and restore fish passage for the lower 1,800 km of Murray River.

But in the next paragraph, without providing any data, the WWF report falsely concludes that “the ecological health of the rivers continues to decline.”

The aquarium trade is a threat to Australia’s many river systems, not just the Murray-Darling. 

Unfortunately, all the WWF report did was ignore a decade of good recovery work and misrepresent the situation. 

Perhaps the WWF are more interested in “hand-waving” than river ecology.  

Published in The Land

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