Shoalhaven’s ‘Old Man River’ calls for more work to protect waterway

“If we don’t do something to look after the river, there will be no water left in it and we won’t have to worry about the fish,” Mr Weir said.

“The river is getting shallower and shallower all the time. If it continues and we don’t do something to stop the degradation of the riverbanks and then the loss of fish breeding habitats, the shallowing will continue and there will be less fish anyway.

“The talk of PFAS contamination in the fish is a worry but there are a lot of things worse than that.”

Mr Weir should know. The 89-year-old has been on the Shoalhaven River for most of his life, including 40 years “on and off” as a professional fisherman.

“The fishing in the river has gone off to buggery,” he said.

“It’s nothing compared to what it used to be.

“When I was young, my dad ran a cargo boat on the river servicing the farms upstream, also taking their produce down to Nowra. He was later a professional fisherman as well.

“There are photos back then of the river with reeds all alongside the edge of the water, which protected the fish and also provided breeding grounds.

“Nowadays there is nothing, it’s just bare banks.

“The catches were always very good - big flathead, even way up the river as far as Riversdale and monster Jewfish.You don’t see that as much now.

“I remember once Dad caught a seven-foot grey nurse shark in front of Riversdale – they used to go that far up to breed.

“You would mainly get bream, mullet, whiting both sides of the bridge, up to around Long Point, the next point just past what is now the animal park [Shoalhaven Zoo].”

After retiring from fishing Mr Weir spent almost 20 years driving Shoalhaven Riverwatch, putting his heart and soul into improving the health of the river, planting about 100,000 mangroves and 25,000 casuarina trees along more than seven kilometres of the riverbank.

He gave up his role in mid 2015, with former civil engineer Peter Jirgens taking over the reins.

Mr Weir believes it could be catastrophic if something isn’t done to curb the undermining of the riverbanks which leads to a “silting up of the river” and loss of fish habitat.

“The contamination worries is a load of bullshit -  I’m more concerned about wakeboarders and jet skiers making waves, stirring up wash and undermining the banks,” he said.

“Eventually the banks will fall in and that will just silt up the river. And we are loosing more and more banks in flood times.

“That will impact on the breeding stocks of fish in the river.

“The little fish need those shallow water edges, with reeds and such - they offer protection so they don’t get eaten by adult fish or birds.

“If that is gone they have no hope, hence the importance to maintain the river edges with things like mangroves etc.

“Recreational fishers can do an interesting experiment. When you are fishing just sit in your boat among the reeds and sand and watch all the little fish in action. And also watch what they have to deal with when other boats go by. Especially do this at Christmas. I’ve seen these little fish get washed up onto the sand and they have to kick to get themselves back into the water.

“I understand there is testing on fish above and below the Shoalhaven bridge and authorities haven’t found a cause as of yet.

“I dare say that a lot of other things were put into the river in the past from factories. There has even been sewage run-off.

“But I stress that everyone must agree that river flow is the most important thing. If we don’t have that we won’t have a river.”