Some of the most outspoken critics of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan have been selected for one of two independent probes into the recent fish kills, a move likely to ensure long-standing issues get a public airing, one of the scientists involved says.

The Australian Academy of Science - which took up a request by federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to conduct a rapid-fire probe of the river system's health - has released some of the names of the expert panel it has assembled.

Graeme McCrabb, a Menindee resident, eyes some of the thousands of dead fish in the Darling River near the town. Credit:Nick Moir

The list includes Quentin Grafton, a director at the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and

Policy, Australian National University, and John Williams, from ANU's Crawford School of Public Policy.

The two researchers have published extensively on the problems of the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan from its inception, including the reduction of environmental water savings well below the scientific estimates of that which was needed.