The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has hailed the revival of Murray-Darling Basin wetlands after years of drought.
Its Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, Hilton Taylor said the wetlands had led to a significant increase in waterbird breeding.
“We have been working with communities, First Nations people and State Governments to sustain wetlands in dry times, so they have the best chance of bouncing back when better conditions return like we are seeing now,” Mr Taylor said.
“Site managers are observing thousands of bird nests at internationally significant wetlands like the Gwydir Wetlands, Macquarie Marshes and Narran Lakes in the north of the Basin,” he said.
Mr Taylor said that following a very wet spring and summer, thousands of waterbirds were also nesting in the wetlands of the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee, while large ibis and pelican colonies were active in Gayini Wetlands.
“Fish are also benefitting with water from the north of the Basin filling Menindee Lakes, a native fish nursery teeming with Golden Perch,” he said.
“Flows out of Menindee Lakes are helping fish disperse into the southern Basin.
“High flows in the Murray have seen a number of wetlands re-connected to the main river including places like Barmah-Millewa Forest, the mid-Murray floodplain between Echuca and Euston, the South Australian floodplains and through to the Lower Lakes and Coorong.”
Mr Taylor said the long-term trend of declining waterbird populations across the Murray-Darling Basin was of enormous concern.
“The large colonies we are seeing now are critical to sustaining waterbird populations,” he said.
“We’re excited at the prospect of a baby bird boom across all of these wetlands and we are looking forward to various species starting to take flight,” Mr Taylor said.
