Russell Pell with a dead cod, one of many in The Goulburn River near Wyuna.
Russell Pell with a dead cod, one of many in the Goulburn River near Wyuna. Photo: Pat Scala
VICTORIA'S environment watchdog is investigating water quality problems in the Goulburn River, which have caused hundreds of fish to die in recent days.
Local experts believe a ''blackwater event'' has struck the Goulburn, in the wake of massive floods that have come down the river.
Investigators from the Environment Protection Authority travelled to a stretch of the Goulburn between Shepparton and Echuca yesterday to test the waters and assess fish deaths.
Wyuna farmer Russell Pell, whose dairy property is adjacent to a stretch of the Goulburn, said he had seen dead fish that were nearly one metre long.
''I would have seen conservatively 100 dead fish, and I probably saw another 300 or 400 that were looking seedy,'' he said.
The cause of blackwater events can vary, but they are thought to occur naturally when floods sweep large amounts of plant life and detritus into rivers, where the organic matter deteriorates and strips the river of oxygen.
The lack of oxygen can kill fish and force freshwater crays to abandon the river for land.
In recent weeks a blackwater event has dogged the Edward and Wakool rivers - New South Wales rivers that feed into the Murray - but Mr Pell said he couldn't remember one in the Goulburn in the decades he has lived on its banks.
''It's damn terrible. I've been watching the river get blacker and blacker each day and was hoping I wouldn't see what I'm seeing, but it doesn't look good,'' he said. ''I never thought I would see one in the Goulburn, especially with the amount of water coming down at the moment.''
PETER KER