Have you told the appropriate authorities this and what did.they say. What caused it and how.do you propose it.should be fixed.

They come up with the same excuse each time, we weren't informed!!! But when they finally decide to take action its too late.
Mate has a house that fronts the estuary usually is on the ball and lets them know but may have been up at his shack at Grey and missed it. He's the one who cut a channel through with his back hoe years back.

wish whoever was in charge got the sack and they found someone with some brains to run the show.

Funny coincidence that it happens every time we get some rain during a hot spell?

WOFTAM waste of f****** time and money.

Instead of cutting funds from the education allowance they should offload about three quarters of the water corp staff save the funds and tell the shinny arses up in hq that they go next unless there are some big changes in the way things are looked after.

Maybe you guys should get the seat sniffer on to it,after all its his backyard.

 what was the point of the meeting then ?

What is the management issue that is more important than this ? 

Such a simple solution hindered by complicated political BS. OPEN THE GATES YOU FOOLS !

 have a cost involved. the cost here is that the gates admit 

salt water, not fresh water. Its the same as the cut at mandurah.

In that case, CALM bangs on about how water quality has improved.

Yes the nutrients are dispersed. Yes dissolved oxygen levels are

higher. The cost is the fact that if you look around, all the paperbarks

on the banks are dead or dying. It is now just another saline system.

The problem is that the wetlands have evolved over a very long time

without nitrogen and other crap being dumped in, and with regular

flushing with fresh water. these are the two critical things that have changed.

Unless this is addressed, the kills will continue. Same for the swan/canning

and indeed most wa esturine systems, if you are reading this auslobster.

Was talking to a couple of pro fisho"s on the beach re this yesterday.They happened to be down at the gates not sure when but there were a heap of so called experts all standing on the structure talking on their mobile phones.The fella"s noticed about 4 ton of mullet all popping the surface trying to oxygenate ,dying a slow death.One of the fisho"s asked the fisheries if they could net them before they died and became a toxic waste and were told in no uncertain terms NO WAY.While they were there they also estimated that the fish kill on the Busso side of the gates was around 6 ton including a heap of 35 to 45cm Blackies.They had one good suggestion and that was to channel into the Port Geo Marina for flushing purposes. Do you think that would work Howard?

p.s they also told me that the fish gate installed there is about a foot above the water level on a low tide good for nothing in reality.

We have the estuary system or "inlet" east of flood gates and every year they get an excavator in and open it up to the ocean but I've seen it silt up again within a few days so my personal opinion is they need to lay a large pipe underground with a riser in the ocean that is level with low tide and a riser in the estuary at the same height so water flows in at high tide and out at low tide hence the circulation of water twice a day. During the winter months the estuary cuts it's own way out to the ocean but it's the summer months that are the problem. The wetlands on the Busso. side of floodgates is another issue and the Dept. of Water claim the water in the high school drain is too rich in nutrients ( nitrogen, Phosphates etc.)to send into the Vasse River hence we don't have the required ammount of flushing into the river and in turn the wetlands so we get the stagnant conditions we experienced recently.The solution for this I feel is to establish large freshwater swamps full of rushes and other plant life that will filter out the nutrients and one needs to be out were the Vasse River meets the drain so we can access that water and another large swamp probably about Ford Road area to filter out the algal bloom coming out of the River and that is consistant with what is happening in other parts of the world. Years ago the farmers put in the floodgates to hold back the salt water and plant spuds in the wetlands so they cleared the swamp of all vegetation and ploughed the bejesus out of it for decades until it wouldn't yield any more and they then just walked away from it and thats why we have the vaste ammount of barren land in the wetlands with no growth on it. If it was a Mining Comp. that did this they would be asked by law to return it to it's original condition but this all happened years ago so unless we do it ourselves no-one else is going to rehabilitate the wetlands. As for your question Willo. it comes down to if you want a freshwater wetlands which at present is Ramsar rated and that complicates matters or convert everthing back to a salt water system but when nothing happens like we've got at the minute and no-ones listening it gets very frustrating.

Yep, Howard you are right. The damage has already been done with the irrigation methods used in wetlands years ago (and development). This caused the precipitation of acid sufates and arsnic from soils that are naturally permanently damp. The metals have now leeched and are stored in the surrounding soil, so every time it rains the elements travel into water systems, then when the area dries again, more are precipitated to form a damaging cycle. It will take many years for any remediation to take effect.

The solution to Wonnerup is prventing cow crap entering the system.
You do wonder what the water quality does to animals.
Reducing cow crap and nutrient run off should improve it.
The gates back up with cow crap. It stinks like crap!

you know , there are a couple of things here that need mentioning I think

first one is anyone who was born in busso like me will remember in the early 60s the hell winter floods that used to take place in some winters and put a lot of busso under water, especially all the flat land around the town entrance from bunbury next to the railway line ,back along into town near the train station the main bridge into queen st and right out to the high school bridge which was partly washed away and shut one winter back then , it all went under water ,very easily , it also flooded much of the low lying farm land along the estuary & town surrounds

our old home address at 11 falkingham rd flooded every winter just about back then , so did the timber mill next door to us !!30+cm under water in july august often

many parts of busso where totally inundated , and it peaked at times of high tides in strong northwesterly storms as they came across the bay flood water did not flow away quickly ,this had been happening for years right back so the vasse diversion drain was built along with the floodgates at wonnerup

I think you will find any kind of horticulture on the wetlands themselves for spuds had little to do with it , spuds where grown along the lower parts possibly , but not many &, I doubt they where the sole cause of the floodgates etc

other thing is farmers I know personally who used to own most of the port geo section from ford road back to port geo , where ardent greenys back in the 70s , yearly planting peppys , melalucas , rushes etc , isobel & jim wilmot did this of there own back every summer for years , I helped on the odd occasion , isobel watered those trees and so did her family

they fenced off sections of the wetland from their cattle etc even built nest mounds for swans , and other ramsar birds back before it was under ramsar, so don't hang shite on the farmers , they are among the best conservators of that bit of land going , unlike the developers and houses now there !!

as iv said before the gov needs to open the wonnerup up into the back of port geo , let it flush it out , they also need to remove the floodgates on all of the estuary , and put in at two locations two sets of large hydraulic ram gates that are automated and will close in times of high tide winter storms to stop flooding , this would return it back to how it was , let nature take care of how far up it goes back to be saline , just as it did in the beginning ,
my nanna Claire heslewood/nee ellis told storys of fish being caught at the back of the old butter factory in busso in her younger days ,that's going back to the 1920s and earlier possibly

the fish deaths don't need to occur the gov just needs to open it back up and manage it better , the tidal effect would be minimal back up the system imo , the return as a fish nursery & the benefits would be huge though
the water quality right back up to rosemary drive etc would be greatly improved at present its just filthy and dead

hezzy

The ones in charge of the floodgates are too tired, too lazy or have no interest in the fish life to regularly open the gates. The new gates can be opened in a matter of minutes compared with the old ones that had frozen up from lack of use over many years

 The river at the town bridge is that bad it stinks and takes your breath away. they opened the river mouth and the water looks good up to the flood gates. I thought they were going to open the gates but they don't look open I think the fish gate is 

 I'm with you on that one Mike, a good flush from Port Geo end would do wonders.