Merri Creek Management Committee

Click here to see Appendix 7.3: Letter from Andrew McMahon, Ecology Australia.

Click here to see Appendix 7.4: MCMC Review of Birds Australia Report.

Click here to see Appendix 7.5: Joint letters to Ministers: Peter Garrett (Federal), Gavin Jennings and Justin Madden (Vic.).

Download MCMC's full submission on the Urban Growth Boundary (4.5 MB), with maps, in pdf format. Alternatively, download the text only (without the maps). You can also download the 3 appendices separately.

MCMC was successful in gaining $81,236 from a Federal Govt Caring For Our Country Grant and also $20,000 from a Melbourne Water Community Grant to Friends of Merri Creek.

Ten dead carp were found in Merri Creek below CERES Environmental Park in East Brunswick on 11/2/09 and MCMC reported the deaths to the Environment protection Authority (EPA).

Measurements by both MCMC and the EPA indicate very low levels of dissolved oxygen and this is the most likely cause of the deaths. Low oxygen results from the combination of low flows, high temperatures and excessive plant growth and plant decay. Although aquatic plants produce oxygen during the day while they are photosynthesising, they use up oxygen during the night.

Unfortunately the conditions which are generating low oxygen conditions look set to continue and we are likely to see more fish deaths not just in Merri Creek, but in many of our creeks and rivers.

If any further fish deaths are found they should be reported to the EPA on 9695 2777.

A large part of the rural upper Merri catchment has been identified as an 'Investigation Area' for Melbourne's new Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). The State Government has announced that one of the developments in this area will be a $350 million interstate freight terminal for the Donnybrook/Beveridge area, an initiative of its "Freight Futures" strategy.