00:00Mataranka residents and traditional owners meet at a local caravan park as new documents come to light.
00:09The government's own science that shows that these places could be really badly damaged.
00:16NT Government modelling from 2022 released to the Environment Centre through Freedom of Information.
00:22It's just sort of been swept under the carpet.
00:26These slides compare the natural flow of the Roper River with various scenarios, including current rates of extraction and planned rates of extraction from the underground aquifer.
00:37Could make bad years for sawfish and barra worse, the NT water scientists wrote.
00:43Concern too over the rate of flow to the famous Bitter Springs, one of the Top End's most famous destinations.
00:50The modelling saying extraction could lead to significant reduction in flow, leading to very low or no flow conditions, which can lead to higher eutrophication, low dissolved oxygen, aesthetic problems for tourists and decrease in habitat for turtles.
01:08I was shocked because I saw that even current levels of extraction could have what appears to be, on the NT Government's own modelling, really catastrophic impacts for the barramundi.
01:21The Environment Centre has written to Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt asking for intervention over the sawfish, which was upgraded to endangered status last year.
01:31Although it came from their own scientists, the NT Department of Lands Planning and Environment has dismissed the documents, saying the modelling was dated and had since been superseded by other information.
01:42The NT Amateur Fisherman's Association, which helped advise on the Mataranka water plan, is also unconcerned about the modelling.
01:50I don't think it's correct to characterise it that NT scientists thought that this could be really bad news for the barramundi. That's not my recollection of the presentation at all.
02:00While the modelling shows impacts on late dry season flows in the roper, David Shirovalo says it's the wet season that really matters for fish.
02:09We're crystal clear that the barramundi fishery, and to an extent of course fish like the sawfish, are driven by wet season ecology.
02:19Divided opinions over a cherished Territory River.
02:23Divided opinions over the panelist and the plan for the
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