Bob observes decades of decline at a stinking home of mosquitoes

Andrew Mathieson
MOSQUITO breeding grounds have replaced birds and fish at dying Lake Connewarre, according to a man who has watched the waterway change over the past seven decades.
Former Leopold resident Bob Ford, who grew up with his six brothers paddling around the lake, said he remembered when water levels were high and the air was fresh around the now-stinking “swamp”.
The Independent reported last week how residents feared that that the “Leopold pong” was threatening the value of properties around Lake Connewarre.
The stink is the latest concern over the lake to emerge since it was added 26 years ago to an international RAMSAR treaty for the protection of wetlands.
Residents have complained repeatedly over the past decade about a build-up of silt choking the lake, reducing water depths and driving away fish and birds.
Mr Ford said the lake had deteriorated beyond recognition since he was a young neighbour.
“When I was young, it was absolutely covered with swans, pelicans, ducks, you name it,” he said.
“There is not a bird in site now.
“As for fishing, there was always mullet and also bay trout.
“Now, there is no chance for fish whatsoever.
“The fact there is no fish in the lake means it has become the major breeding ground for mosquitoes all over the Bellarine Peninsula.”
Seventy-eight-year-old Mr Ford could also cast his mind back to when a yacht club operated on Lake Connewarre.
That was when “you couldn’t put your feet down” on the lake’s bed, he said.
But now the shallow-hulled catamarans would be unable to sit in the water, the depth of which had fallen in part of the lake to a handful of centimetres.
“It’s absolutely dreadful,” Mr Ford said.
“I have been disgusted by what has happened to it.
“It will turn into nothing but a swamp in time – then we’ll really get mosquitoes.”
Mr Ford believed authorities should launch a dredging program to sediment filling the lake.
The lake was slowly “silting up” with the sentiment, he said.
Mr Ford blamed “greenies” and “little bird cuddlers” for preventing a dredging program proposed several years ago.
“They say we can’t do that because it will take away the environment for all the wading birds,” he said.