While many people might think less water means more chance of catching a fish, that is not the case, and now there is a real concern that rain filling the dam up could result in a large scale fish kill.
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Keepit Dam sank below the one per cent mark over the weekend, and then below the 0.5 per cent mark on Wednesday, although it did not stop the Lake Keepit Family Fishing Club landing a huge haul on their final outing of the year.
President Anne Michie said even though the water level mean fish “aren’t really on the bite”, club members still managed to land plenty, and all five species - cod, yellow belly, silver perch, catfish and carp.
“It is pretty sad seeing the dam that low – the water dropped a metre overnight - although we still had a pretty reasonable comp for the end of year medals,” she said.
Ms Michie, who is also a water and soil scientist, doesn’t believe the dam will ever be completely dry as the water level drops below the point which it can be released. She is however more concerned about the welfare of the remaining fish once the dam starts filling again.
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“When it has been so hot and dry like this there is a lot of nutrient load on the ground that hasn’t been broken down,” she said.
“When it does rain that sediment, silt and nutrients flows into the dam and drops the oxygen levels because there isn’t enough water to dilute it, which can result in a large scale fish kill, or can cause algae blooms like Blue Green Algae.”
Fortunately Keepit is a stocked dam, where fish levels are monitored and restocked when necessary, however a large scale event like that could impact a lot of the larger breeding fish, which would take years to regenerate.
The club president, who works for East West Enviroag, is also the local Landcare coordinator, and is hopeful that in future years a balance can be found between recreational water users and irrigators.
“We are talking about the worst drought ever recorded so it is going to take a lot of rain and a long time to fill it up, but it will happen,” she said.
“I grew up on an irrigation farm so understand that to feed and clothe people we need irrigation, although recreational users also pour a lot of money into the dam through fees.
“There is a bit of doom and gloom, but I think just because it has been let out so quickly that it has stirred up a lot of emotion in people and rightly so.
“But at the same time people past Wee Waa haven’t had any water flowing in the river for 150 days so I don’t know what the answer is.”
