An independent inquiry into the deaths of millions of fish in the Darling-Baaka River at Menindee in March will look at whether local management interventions could prevent future fish kills.
The terms of reference for the inquiry, which was announced last month, were released on Monday. They include an investigation of the environmental conditions and water monitoring data in the lead up to the fish kill, the success of the emergency management framework which saw New South Wales Police as the lead agency responding to an ecological and public health disaster and whether there was sufficient community consultation, particularly with First Nations people.
The NSW water minister, Rose Jackson, told reporters it was essential to understand why the “catastrophic fish deaths” occurred and prevent a recurrence.
“We are requesting this independent inquiry to provide the community with certainty that we are thoroughly investigating this matter,” she said.
The review will be conducted by the NSW chief scientist and engineer, Prof Hugh Durrant-Whyte.
The NSW environment minister, Penny Sharpe, visited Menindee with premier Chris Minns after the state election last month. She told reporters on Monday it was important that they visit the region as soon as possible “to understand how big it is”.
“On the day that we’d visited, they had removed over 10,000 tonnes of dead fish from the local waterways there,” she said.
“The local community has been talking about the challenges of water management along the Darling-Baaka for a very long time. They really feel like they haven’t been listened to, and one of our commitments and today’s announcement really is about delivering that commitment to them.
“Not only will we get to the bottom of what happened with the fish deaths, the actions that led up to it, the role of the agencies, the way in which they communicate with the community. But we also want to get to the bottom of what we can do in the future to prevent them.”
“We need to get this right and we look forward to the chief scientist helping us along the way.”
Prof Durrant-Whyte said his office would be conducting a broad-ranging inquiry.
“There is no doubt the extraordinary number of fish deaths has had a far-reaching effect on western NSW and beyond,” he said.
The review is due to be handed to the government by 31 August.
