Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for September 10, 2006

Photographs Suggest Still Water in the Murray River: ABC Wrong Yet Again

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I’ve already complained about ABC Online incorrectly reporting that water levels in the Murray River are at historic lows. The article, published on 17th August, confused low water inflows with low water levels, the journalist apparently unaware that the Murray River ran dry in 1914.

Instead of correcting the story, journalist Sarah Clark has now repeated the misinformation with some quotes from WWF activist Alison Colyer. In a piece entitled ‘Fish at risk as rivers run dry’ published on 7th September, it is suggested that the record low water levels are going to result in the extinction of Murray Cod.

I asked a farmer, Daryl McDonald, who lives near the river to take some photographs for me. He went back to the spot at Riversdale where the river ran dry in 1914 so we could see how the river looks today, relative to 1914 when water levels were really low. This is what he emailed just yesterday:

Riverdale_P1000051 blog.JPG

Riversdale_P1000048 blog.JPG

Riversdale_P1000053 blog.JPG

And he included the following note:

Hi Jen, Pics from Riversdale as near as we can figure to the site of the original photo of the buggy.
River is flowing nicely today at around 4120 ML/day @ 80 EC. Quite amazing considering we have had the lowest inflows on record. It should be noted that South Australia still expects its guaranteed 1850 GL/p.a., while N.S.W irrigators have a zero allocation, and the Vics are on ~50% of their average 160% Water Right. Cheers, Daryl McD.

Remember that 1914 photograph from Riversdale:

Dry Murray 1914 blog2.JPG

I’ve previously disputed claims that the Murray Cod is in trouble, including in my monograph ‘Myth and the Murray: Measuring the Real State of the River Environment’ published by the IPA in December 2003.

Can’t Keep the Lid on Chinese GM Rice

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Dear Jennifer,

Did you see this recent article from Nature entitled ‘Escaped Chinese GM Rice Reaches Europe’ ?

The Chinese do their trialing on a grand scale. According to an industry source one million acres of insect resisitant GM rice was planted last year in China. Anywhere else this would have been described as a general commercial release of the GM rice.

If you tested Chinese rice noodles in an Asian grocery store in Australia you would find that products derived from insect resistant GM rice is a reality here too.

But more importantly, and as is pointed out in the article, the risks to the consumer of GM Chinese rice noodles are minimal. Any allergenic reaction to the rice would have been drastically reduced in the processing of the food as the food allergy expert states.

The real question is: Can GM rice coexist with non-GM rice and is there the political will to keep them separate in China?

Exports of Chinese rice noodles is not a big issue for the Chinese government.

There has been a consensus growing among scientists that when China decides to openly (or covertly) give GM rice the all clear it will have an immediate impact on the ‘GM free’ status of rice products sold everywhere on this planet.

It will undoubtedly trigger a new round of food scares and anti-GM campaigns.

But they will all be futile. Ultimately we will have to face the reality of living with a technology, which in the case of https://levitralab.com insect resistant GM rice, has clear public and environmental benefits.

Regards,

Roger Kalla.