RESCUE OPERATIONS ON THE MURRUMBIDGEE RIVER. 



By H. K. ANDERSON, Inland Fisheries Officer. By permission of the Under-Secretary.) 

 Communicated by A. R. McCulloch. 



Whenever a flood occurs in the Murrumbidgee River and the waters approach what is known as the 

 critical danger level, practically all the outer channels of the river are tilled with water. These 

 channels, variously called creeks, lagoons, billabongs, and ana-branches, traverse the low-lying river 

 flats in all directions, the network of water-courses extending in some localities on one or other side 

 to a width of several miles from the river bank. When the flood recedes, much of the water left in the 

 creeks soaks away, leaving chains of water boles of varying depth. Some of these are almost perma- 

 nent, but the majority dry up within a couple of months after the flood has ceased flowing through 

 them. 



All these waterholes teem with fish life, but the number of fishes, shrimps, yabbies and insect 

 life they contain can hardly be realised, except bj those who have seen a finc-mesh net drawn through 

 such waters and observed for themselves the incredible number of living creatures they contain. 



Should a flood as described above occur in the months of November and December, during, or 

 just after, the general spawning season of the Murray Cod, Golden Perch and other food fishes, the 

 helpless fry of these kinds are carried along by the waters and scattered broadcast over the river flats. 

 If the waters recede quickly and cease to flow through the outer channels by the middle of January, 

 countless numbers of little Murray Cod, Golden Perch, etc.. are trapped in the waterholes described 

 above, and millions of them perish year after year as the waters evaporate or soak away from them. 

 If, on the other hand, the flood waters continue to flow through the creeks and billabongs until the 

 middle of February, or a second flood follows within that time, most of the fry of the edible fishes 

 have by then grown strong enough, and developed sufficiently the instinct of self-preservation to 

 swim out of the shallow creeks into the permanent water of the deep lagoons or the river itself. It 

 is, however, only at very wide intervals that the fish are released in this manner. 



In the Riverina the winter rains of 1917 continued well into November, and, as a consequence, 

 the Murrumbidgee River at Bringagee was running far over the level of its banks from the middle 

 of September until about the middle of December, while its waters were frequently replenished by 

 freshets from the mountains towards its source. 



The collection of immature food fishes from overflowed lands and their transplantation in perma- 

 nent waters is probably the most economical method of providing unstocked or depleted waters with 

 a prospective fish food supply, and funds being available for this work, I pitched my camp on the bank 

 of the Murrumbidgee at Bringagee, in which locality the river banks are low, and the area covered 

 by flood water on either side is considerable. Our equipment comprised a motor lorry, single-seated 

 runabout car, two 18-foot pulling boats fitted with outboard engines, horse and sulky, three nets |" 

 mesh, with a very deep bunt or bag heavily leaded and a frame on four legs, like an ambulance 

 stretcher, with canvas water bag 4 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot deep for carrying live fish in the lorry or 

 boats, two large galvanized wire gauze cages, 6 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet deep for storing the captured 

 fish in the river, and a number of live-fish carriers for carrying consignments by rail. The staff 

 consisted of five men, two boys and myself, 



