Locals take fight to save ‘dying’ Richmond River to state government

Exclusive: A small home-made sign erected on the Pacific Highway has laid bare the desperate pleas of a community suffocating under a blanket of toxic black mud.

Once a thriving ecosystem, locals say the Richmond River in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales is choked with monosulfidic black ooze – formed by acid sulfate soils and decaying organic debris and severely exacerbated by flood events, such as the catastrophic 2022 disaster and ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

The tar-like substance smothers the riverbed and sucks oxygen from the water, causing mass fish kills and releasing toxic heavy metals.

Local author Graeme Gibson and retired water engineer Steve Posselt say toxic mud and sediment now extends from the river mouth at Ballina as far as 10 kilometres out to sea, devastating marine life and the region’s rich fishing industry.

They are campaigning for the appointment of a Richmond River commissioner so that a single authority is responsible for the management of the waterway and its entire catchment.

“There’s been more than 30 studies done into the Richmond River in nearly 30 years and the situation continues to get worse,” Gibson said.

“There’s no fish, there’s no life, it’s just dirty, stinking, smelling mud,” Posselt said.

“We’re trying to alert the whole of New South Wales to the fact our river is dying.”

The river has been rated to have some of the worst water quality in the state.

Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said the river was under “enormous environmental stress” after decades of catchment degradation, altered hydrology, flood events and inadequate investment.

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“What we are witnessing across sections of the river system – including the appearance of monosulfidic black ooze, deteriorating water quality and recurring fish kills — is confronting and unacceptable,” she said.

“The black ooze is particularly alarming because it is a visible sign of oxygen-deprived sediment and ecological imbalance within the river system.

“Our community cares deeply about this river.

“People are frustrated because they can see the decline, but they also want hope and they want action.”

Trawlers ‘can’t catch a prawn’

Since the late ’80s, Ballina has been the site of one of Australia’s most beloved “Big Things” - the iconic nine-metre, 35-tonne Big Prawn.

But local fisherman Mark Pugilisi told nine.com.au the estuary prawn industry had collapsed.

“There was probably six guys that were full-time hauling, making a living out of that,” Pugilisi said.

“There’s none of them left anymore. They’re gone.

“They’ve still got their licences and endorsements but they can’t catch a prawn.”

The town is thought to be named after the Bundjalung First Nations word “Bullenah” which means “place where oysters are plentiful”.

Pugilisi, who grew up on the river in a fishing family, remembers selling oysters to local bait shops as a kid but he said the oysters were now gone too.

“What we’re seeing in the river is a mass depletion of what used to be here,” he said.

“We have one of the most amazing pieces of water in Australia, and we’re just killing it.”

Pugilisi said the last time he tried to net mullet at the Tuckean Broadwater, just south of Ballina, he suffered acid burns.

“There was like an acid soil that came off the bottom of the nets, and it actually burnt my hands, I got dermatitis from the acid.”

Pugilisi said the Tuckean Swamp, one of the biggest wetlands in NSW, now plagued by poor water quality and mass fish kills, had become toxic since the installation of floodplain drainage infrastructure.

“It just slowly died since then, so it’s turned toxic, and all that happens now is that it rains, it fills up to a point where it pushes the gates open itself and acid water pours out and kills everything on its way down,” he said.

“It’s impossible for fish to breed up there. There’s no oxygen in there. It can’t support life.”

Major challenges upstream

The Richmond River catchment spans nearly 7000 square kilometres within five local government areas.

Once heavily forested, since European settlement it has become home to urban development, agriculture and grazing, drainage systems and flood mitigation.

A recent study by Griffith University in partnership with Rous County Council, the local government body tasked with water management across the region, found that erosion from degraded riverbanks, exacerbated by heavy rainfall events – such as the record-breaking 2022 flood – was causing significant and ongoing sediment pollution.

The 2022 flood caused 1600 separate landslides alone.

Researchers found re-vegetating the riparian zone, where the water meets the land, was the best protection against further erosion and landslides.

They assessed 1400km of riverbank across the catchment and estimated the cost of restoring the entire catchment would be more than $330 million.

“We’re seeing these huge rainfall events that are just pushing systems across thresholds that we haven’t experienced in European history,” Andrew Brooks, the lead researcher and Griffith University adjunct associate professor, said.

“I think systems do have considerable capacity to recover but we have to put this effort in; if we leave it, that trajectory of decline is going to continue.”

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He said managing weed infestations and fencing off livestock would allow the riverbanks to naturally recover but more frequent natural disasters would hamper that process.

“One of the challenges is going to be if we start to see these big (rainfall) events every five years or something,” he said.

“We’re talking about vegetation that needs decades to establish to withstand the impact of those floods.

“There’s no single entity which has a whole-of-catchment focus, so this is partly why things have been done in a piecemeal fashion.”

Currently, Ballina, Byron, Lismore, Kyogle and Richmond Valley councils manage the river jointly, in partnership with Rous County Council, with oversight from the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Community groups Richmond Landcare and Richmond Riverkeeper are also involved in restoration projects and advocacy.

The Riverbank Rehabilitation Project by Local Land Services NSW, which worked to improve flood-damaged riverbanks across five sites in the catchment, will wrap up on June 30 with no further funding secured.

Project manager Craig Hart said the $3 million in restoration works had included the installation of habitat-friendly woody debris and stock exclusion fencing.

Gibson and Posselt’s proposal of a Richmond River commission with a dedicated commissioner, ongoing funding and statutory power had the backing of the Rous County Council, Byron and Ballina shire councils and Richmond Landcare.

Cadwallader believes the proposal for a commission or similar body has merit.

“Piecemeal responses are no longer enough,” Cadwallader said.

“The challenges facing the Richmond are too large and too complex for any one organisation or council to solve alone.

“Importantly, we also need substantial state and federal funding support for river rehabilitation, floodplain restoration, improved water quality monitoring, catchment management and practical on-ground works that will make a measurable difference over the long term.”

Richmond Valley and Lismore councils have opted to reserve their support until a report into regional flood mitigation by the CSIRO is released later this year.

Kyogle Council Mayor Danielle Mulholland said in a statement that council supports further investment into the river but wants more detail on the proposed commissioner role, selection process and mandate.

NSW Water Minister Rose Jackson told nine.com.au the government’s Integrated Catchment Management Work Program was developing a package of reforms to improve river health that would be unveiled later this year.

“I’ve met with Steve and Graeme, who are both passionate advocates for the Richmond River,” Jackson said.

“We’re aware of concerns about the health of the river and we take calls for improved governance seriously.”

Pugilisi just wants to see kids diving and snorkelling in the river again.

“As a commercial fisherman, people just go, ‘Oh, you just want to catch more fish’,” he said.

“Well, of course I do, because that’s how I make a living, but you know what? I actually want a healthy river.

“A healthy river means everyone gets to catch fish. Everyone gets to enjoy it.”