Daly River a nationally important icon worth conserving: New report
07 Oct 2005
The Daly River and its wetlands and estuary have been shown to be of national conservation value in a new report launched today.
"There are no other rivers like the Daly in Australia. Its year-round flow, good water quality, fish, wetlands, threatened species and turtles make it a unique river," said Dr Stuart Blanch, Freshwater Manager, WWF-Australia.
"The Territory has a great opportunity to make sure development and land and water management in the catchment does not degrade these values.
"No-one wants to see the Daly go the way of the Murray River, or barramundi become like Murray cod -a threatened species.
The report is the first catchment-wide conservation value assessment and was produced by WWF, Charles Darwin University and the Environment Centre NT.
"Broad scale land clearing and over-extraction of water for irrigation have the real potential of turning the Daly River into a sand clogged, fishless drain," Dr Blanch said.
"The Territory Government needs to deliver on its election commitment to provide legal protection for the Daly through its Living Rivers Strategy," he said.
Key findings about the Daly River system:
- Highest base-flow of any Territory river, and probably any tropical Australian river
- Largest number of freshwater turtle species in any Australian river (8 of 12 species in the NT)
- Internationally important wetlands in the estuary and lower floodplains
- 48 species of freshwater fish - the Murray-Darling Basin has only 33
- Nationally threatened fish species, such as freshwater sawfish and whipray
- The health of the Daly River catchment is extremely important for Indigenous people, who own half the catchment, fishers and landholders.
For more information
Download the report:
Aquatic conservation values of the Daly River Catchment.
Or contact:
Stuart Blanch, WWF-Australia Freshwater Manager
Mobile: 0427 957 868
