Saturday and Sunday were great days for the community and the environment, not such great days for the European carp population.

The annual Carp Muster, organised and hosted by Narrabri Fishing Club, was again a major success – it was the biggest community event of the past 12 months.

The Muster was called off last year because the river had run dry after four years of drought. And the COVID pandemic followed soon after.

COVID health rules were all observed at the Muster on the weekend, including QR code signing in. European carp were hauled from the Narrabri Creek, the Namoi River and their various tributaries, the designated fishing areas for the Muster, on Saturday and Sunday and our waterways are that much cleaner now thanks to the fishermen and women’s and kids’ efforts.

The weigh-in on both days was a satisfactory finale to the two days’ fishing.

An equally satisfactory irony is that the feral fish have gone on to become food for the very species which they threaten – our native fish.

The weekend dawned bright and sunny and the participating fishing families were out early ready for a weekend of action.

Fishers signed on at the RSL Club and headed for their fishing spots. Everyone who registered was invited to a free barbecue. Hundreds of families were involved – there were 554 registered fishermen and women of all ages.

A feature of the event again this year was the generous support of local businesses and individual donors throwing their backing behind the carp cull.

The local sponsorship meant that a huge $20,000 worth of prizes was on offer.

The supporters funded an impressive array of prizes and the beaming faces of the young fishers as they stepped up to receive their prizes was a testament to the spirit of community and the kids’ engagement with the event and its environmental ideals.

A small army of hard working Narrabri Fishing Club volunteers made it all happen and they were very busy across the weekend. There is much to organise and many details to be covered leading up to and on the even more busy weekend’s finale prizegiving.

So why pick on the carp?

The answer is that they are a major cause of degradation of our inland waterways, adding significantly to the usual environmental pressures.

In fact, carp thrive in rivers already degraded. They are resilient fish which means they can also survive – and spread – in the very ecosystems they succeed in degrading.

“Their bottom-feeding behaviour reduces water clarity, limiting sunlight penetrating down to macrophytes on the river bed, which then reduces the habitat and food source for invertebrates, native fish and water birds,” the CSIRO reports.

“The cumulative effect of these impacts is to shift ecosystems from a predominantly clear-water state to a murky, nutrient-rich state referred to as ‘eutrophication’.

“Once an ecosystem shifts in this way, reversal can be difficult, meaning the river will remain muddy for some time, even as carp densities fluctuate.”

The bottom line is that carp are a serious environmental enemy and events like the Carp Muster are a valuable weapon, which many people can help with, in combating the threat.

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