After gathering water from 23 river valleys, the Murray empties into Lakes Alexandrina and Albert before making its way to the Coorong and out the Murray Mouth to Encounter Bay in South Australia. The entire Murray‐Darling Basin is upstream. Everything that happens there affects what goes on here. Wind is almost a constant here. Nothing separates this unique piece of Australia from Antarctica and the full brunt of the Southern Ocean.

The River, Lakes and Coorong are part of the traditional lands of the Ngarrindjeri people. These waters provided food and featured in their stories. The Ngarrindjeri people have seen their land and river change. As well as being uniquely affected by changes upstream, the Lower Lakes, Coorong and their fish have been shaped by industries like sheep and cattle grazing, commercial fishing and tourism have all brought new people into the area, with new needs and new ways to catch its fish.

The Lower Lakes and the Coorong once formed one big estuary where fresh and saltwater mixed. The Lakes only became salty during droughts. Now, barrages separate the freshwater from the salt and the Lakes from the Coorong. Flows from upstream have declined so much that in recent years a dredge has been used to keep the Murray Mouth open to the sea.

(Source: Frawley, J., Nichols, S., Goodall, H. and Baker, E. 2011. The Coorong and Lower Lakes: Talking fish, making connections with the rivers of the Murray‐Darling Basin. Murray‐Darling Basin Authority, Canberra.)]]>
Map image attribution: Murray-Darling Basin Authority, Talking Fish Project see details...]]>  View or download from publisher...]]> http://geonode.research.uts.edu.au/layers/geonode%3Afrawley2012page018]]>
Fisheries]]> Local history]]> Family histories]]> Marine ecology]]> Estuarine ecology]]> Salinity]]> Fishing regulations]]> Water--Law and legislation]]> Licenses]]> Introduced fishes]]> Aboriginal culture]]> Traditional ecological knowledge]]> Floods]]> Sustainable fisheries]]> Acid sulfate soils]]> Fishes--Identification]]>
Gary is a commercial fisher in the Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery for 28 years; a third generation fisher on his father’s side, and a fifth generation fisher on his mother’s side (lineage to the Rumbelow family, and whalers from Victor Harbour, South Australia). His family came to the Lower Lakes in the 1930s. Gary lives and grew up in the Meningie area, four-hundred metres from Lake Albert. Gary discusses the three different habitats – marine, estuarine (the most productive system), and fresh water. He recalls life as a youngster working at his grandfather’s fish processing business. He has not been able to fish commercially in the Coorong south lagoon for 20 years due to hyper-salinity, and is concerned about the government’s targeting of commercial fishers and fisheries rather than habitat degradation. The low-tech, high physical-input nature and rotational harvesting of the fishing industry is a factor in its sustainability. The Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery incorporates Lake Albert, Lake Alexandrina, the Coorong from Goolwa to Salt Creek, the ocean from Goolwa Beach Road to outside Kingston. The Coorong relies on Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.

Gary talks about: differences in fishing over 80 years from family history and personal observation ‘every year was different’; history of the Coorong and Lower Lakes Fishery, documented since 1854; the commercial fishing industry in Meningie (including when the coastal road through Meningie and Coorong was main route to Melbourne from Adelaide); history post World War II, including native vegetation land clearing; changes in licensing, which were freely available until mid-1970s when zoning occurred; commercial fishing registration, which influenced fishing behaviour (return on investment) due to administrative load; monthly ‘Catch and Effort’ data reported to government; health of region before construction of barrages 1935-40; the reduction in estuary size of Lake Alexandrina; changes to fish ecology separating salt from fresh water; changes to flood patterns; declining river flows; water extraction; degradation of habitat and lifecycles of estuarine-dependent species; bait fish industry (rock lobster market); the chain affect of water hyper salinity in the South Lagoon on species; brine shrimp – evidence of salinity and system collapse; rate of water release from lakes into the Coorong and sea; high percentage of carp in Lake Alexandrina; ground and surface water flows; 1981 closing of the Murray mouth; acid-sulfate soil; fishery closures in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia; Riverland Fishery (most sustainable model); importance of fish ways to their movement upstream; certification in 2008 of the Lower Lakes and Coorong Fishery; parallels in fishing methods with historical methods; traditional knowledge transfer, Ngarrindjeri peoples.

Gary also discusses the flood of 1956, and a severe drought in the last five years where water levels dropped a metre below sea level.

Other fish mentioned (unspecified species): Australian Salmon, soft-mouthed Hardyhead. Gary discusses an interesting relationship between Dandelion plants and fish movement.

Other mentions: President of Southern Fisherman’s Association (Gary has historical minutes of meetings); Murray-Darling Basin water management plan; Department of Environment; Department of Water; Riverland Fishery (South Australia); Fisheries Act; Marines Stewardship Council Certification; World Wide Fund for Nature, Scheme of Management; Department of Fisheries; South Australian Research Development Institute.]]>
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Salinity]]> Floods]]> Dams]]> Irrigation]]> Barrages]]> Dairy industry]]> Farms]]> Fishing--Australia]]> Fishing licenses]]> Traditional ecological knowledge]]> Aboriginal spirituality]]> Silt]]> Riparian areas]]> Restoration ecology]]> Sustainable fisheries]]> Aquifers--Australia]]> Land custodianship]]> Fishing industry]]> Cultural flows]]>
Matthew Rigney is an Elder of the Ngarrindjeri Nation in South Australia. He discusses the culture and spirituality of his people, the changes in the waterways within the Coorong region with special regard to floods and barrages, the issues with government in gaining water for cultural flows for Indigenous peoples, traditional Ngarrindjeri land and water management, and fishing in the region.

Topics covered include: Aboriginal land and water management practices; competing views of Aboriginal and Eurocentric viewpoints regarding the environment and economy; Indigenous connection to land; cultural flows; Cultural Water Access Licences, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN); Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority.]]>

Electronic records have been made private as per the request of Matthew Rigney's family. As part of our data access requirements, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Data Archive (located at the University of Technology, Sydney) requires an applicant to sign an undertaking before access to material can be approved. These undertakings may include a request for information about the intended use of the data. The depositor and/or family may be informed of the application.

Preliminary applications may be made to:
atsida@lib.uts.edu.au.
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Local history]]> Aboriginal culture]]> Aboriginal peoples]]> Estuarine ecology]]> Salinity]]> Fishes--Identification]]> Traditional ecological knowledge]]> Plants--Identification]]> Birds--Identification]]> Agricultural land]]> Floods]]> Acid sulfate soils]]> Weeds]]> Introduced fishes]]> Naturalists]]> Fish surveys]]> Boats]]> Threatened species]]>
Terry and John collectively discuss: pre-barrage days, when a blue line was visible, separating fresh from salt water in Lake Alexandrina (which is now freshwater); changes in fishing methods and equipment; a time when the Mulloway fish species were captured for their gelatine; history of flows and currents in the Coorong from the southern end, as a result of drainage schemes; salinity from agricultural soils and runoff; hypersalinity of the Coorong; traditional knowledge and legends of the Ngarrindjeri peoples; comparisons in flooding and rainfall between 1956 flood and the present day; the dairy and agricultural industry and trade routes in the 1950s; history of prominent naturalists studying the area; the Strathalbyn Nationalist book, an extensive repository of vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants in the area; South Australian Naturalist surveys; observation of fauna in the 1950s-60s and consequent changes; popular family and community activities (e.g. fishing, yabbying, hunting); history of boat types and fishermen huts (‘shacks’); dredging and acid sulphate soil issues; methods of catching and transporting fish (and duck); the impact of salinity on the small snails in the food chain of duck species; vegetation (weeds) popular to ducks; and the effect of European carp in the 1970s on the swan population; 1956 flood, and a family story about a 1870 flood; plant species.

They discuss a fish species 'disostra' in the Coorong and worldwide that died off in the early 20th century. They talk about water birds, and a species called a Banded Stilt which feeds on brine shrimp - a sign of hypersalinity.

Also mentioned: the South Australian Farmers Union, which became Southern Farmers, then National Foods.]]>
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