News release
Water conserved by irrigators
assists migratory birds
Endangered and threatened migratory bird species travelling from the northern hemisphere
to South Australian Murray-Darling Basin wetlands will find water thanks to initiatives such
as the Australian Government’s On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program which returns water to
the environment.
Funded by the Australian Government, the On-Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program (OFIEP)
assists irrigators in the southern connected system of the Murray-Darling Basin to modernise
their on-farm irrigation infrastructure while sharing water savings between irrigators and the
environment.
South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management (SAMDB NRM) Board
has secured funding in Rounds 1 to 4 of OFIEP, working as a delivery partner under the
program to help irrigators implement their projects and achieve water savings.
SAMDB NRM Board Presiding Member, Sharon Starick, said World Migratory Bird Day
(May 10) is an opportunity to highlight migratory waterbird species such as plovers,
sandpipers, stints, curlews and snipes that benefit from the return of water saved by
irrigators.
“The Board is working with the Australian Government to deliver more than 400 projects
which aim to return approximately 20.5 gigalitres of water to the environment to boost
wetland and floodplain ecosystems and ensure a healthy Murray-Darling Basin system,” Mrs
Starick said.
These projects complement the work being undertaken by Basin State and Federal
Governments under the Murray Darling Basin Plan to return 3200 gigalitres of water to the
river for critical human water needs, as well as providing environmental flows to the river’s
wetlands and floodplains.
Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder representative David Papps said Whirlpool
Corner, a wetland located within the Riverland RAMSAR site, benefited from the delivery of
91.851 megalitres of Commonwealth environmental water in February and June 2013.
“Whirlpool Corner is one of dozens of wetlands provided with environmental water in South
Australia this year, and we are witnessing a direct response in birdlife diversity and
abundance across all sites,” he said.
Mrs Starick said a record frog population, thriving river red gums and 17 species of
waterbirds including egrets, herons, dotterels, swans and ducks were some of the ecological
improvements seen at Whirlpool Corner after receiving environmental water.
“Migratory bird species, such as red-necked stints, make an incredible journey of up to
26,000 kilometres each year between summer breeding grounds in the northern hemisphere
to feeding areas in the southern hemisphere including the South Australian coastline and
wetlands,” she said.
“A range of important activities are being undertaken within Australia to conserve migratory
bird populations and their habitats.”
8 May 2015
Media contact
Jayne Miller
Media Project Officer
Natural Resources
SA Murray-Darling Basin
Department of Environment,
Water and Natural Resources
Phone (08) 8580 1811
Mobile 0467 762 107
Email
[email protected]
www.environment.sa.gov.au
www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au
/samurraydarlingbasin
News release
Wetland habitat loss and degradation is a significant threat to migratory waterbirds, and the
conservation of important sites both within Australia and along their migration routes is
essential to their survival.
For over 30 years, Australia has played an important role in international cooperation to
conserve migratory birds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, entering into bilateral
migratory bird agreements with Japan in 1974, China in 1986 and most recently the Republic
of Korea in 2007. Each of these agreements provide for the protection and conservation of
migratory birds and their important habitats.
Photo caption1: Migratory red-necked stints (pictured) fly thousands of kilometres from
north-eastern Siberia and western Alaska to reach the shores of the Australian southern
coastline. They can be found on the coast, in sheltered inlets, bays, lagoons, estuaries,
intertidal mudflats, shallow wetlands and protected sandy or coralline shores. (Photo
courtesy of Bob Green).
Photo caption 2: A mixture of waterbirds including glossy ibis, red-kneed dotterel and
black-winged stilt (foreground) and masked lapwings and grey teal (background) at
Paiwalla Wetland. (Photo courtesy of Kate Mason).
Photo Caption 3: A red-kneed dotterel photographed at Paiwalla Wetland. (Photo courtesy of
Kate Mason).
8 May 2015