@rory_filmmaker

The first thing we notice as we trod carefully along the dry lake bed is the smell of fertiliser. We were about to witness firsthand a mass fish die off in a remote section of Lake Pamamaroo in remote NSW. Authorities had refused to confirm aerial reports of a fish die off, so we decided to investigate. When we found it, we were struck by the size of all the fish. The native Murray Cods were all at least 50 years old. Their lives had come to an end because they weren't able to escape the draining lake in time. It's hard to know if this happened because the lakes are no longer in their natural state or if this always happened when the lakes dried out. At the time the rest of the Baarka was lurid green and low in oxygen as a result of poor river management practices. So it’s not like they could go anywhere. We were shocked by how many invasive carp had been living in the lake. There must have been 10’s of thousands, most were very big. Sadly for the river system the Carp will make a comeback in the lake.