As the weather warms up and dissolved oxygen in the local rivers and creeks remain dangerously low, the community is leading the fish protection response.

From old bedframes with dripper lines supplied with air compressors, to garden hoses circulating water, and even a paddleboat churning through $700 in fuel per week in an effort to provide an oxygenated refuge for native fish. The Murray Downs Marina dissolved oxygen went up above 5mg/L after four days with the Iron Dry paddle boat running.

Three funding streams have enabled Western Murray Land Improvement Group to support the community response, aerator running costs and assist with communication and engagement of dissolved oxygen levels and flow information. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office, the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and a GoFundMe page set up by Tom Isma from Swan Hill all have contributed to reducing the out of pocket expenses that many are funding themselves to make their environment a better place.

The river holds a special place in the heart of Tom.

“I grew up on the river and I’ve fished all my life,” said Tom.

“It’s my medicine; if I have a crap day, I’ll go out for a fish and it seems to fix it all.”

This is the third fish kill Tom has seen since he started fishing at three years of age, those being 2011, 2016 and the current event.

“Anything under two dissolved oxygen and the fish will start to die out, a month long at under two is not good.

“I saw Roger Knight on Facebook asking for people to help.

“There’s a lot of people complain, but no one was really turning up to functions to see how you could better it.

“Roger and a few other blokes had been making things funded from their own back pocket.

“I messaged him and asked, if I could raise a few funds, would that be an option?”

Tom couldn’t have imagined the response he got, raising over $8,000. The money is now being used across the Murray, Edward and Wakool River systems in buying compressors, solar aerators, dripper piping and supporting those doing their best to help the fish stocks, like a new drive chain after a breakdown on the paddleboat.

You can donate to the efforts at GoFundMe. The campaign is named ‘Help save our native fish’.

www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-our-native-fish?qid=67e6ebe834667ccc4b868cfee8ed1b11

This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 8 December 2022.