
Partner Profile: Tablelands Regional Council
The Tablelands Regional Council serves 11 towns and surrounding districts on the Atherton Tablelands.
Healthy waterways underpin our lifestyles and livelihoods. When waterways thrive, so do we.
Based within James Cook University, the Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER) is Australia’s premier tropical aquatic research group. It undertakes influential research in fields related to water science, resource management and the ecology of water ecosystems.
TropWATER is an amalgamation of aquatic expertise from across James Cook University. It brings over 150 research and supporting staff and over 100 post-graduate students into one cohesive research group led by Director Professor Damien Burrows. TropWATER provides a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary research activities by integrating JCU’s aquatic expertise into one unit, which covers the full spectrum of freshwater, estuarine and marine waters, with expertise from ecology, water quality, hydrology, engineering, physics, oceanography, modelling and resource economics. It is primarily funded by nationally and international government agencies, industry and private enterprise.
TropWATER aims to conduct highly-recognised and influential research in fields related to water science, resource management and the ecology of water ecosystems, with a special focus on achieving sustainable use of water resource systems and water ecosystems. Its overall goal is to secure the future of water ecosystems and maintain their critical functional processes. The Centre has a strong, but not exclusive, focus on tropical water systems, both in Australia and internationally. It is concerned with major issues in water science, including water resources, water quality and aquatic biodiversity, in relation to economic, social and environmental needs, constraints and change.
Find out more: https://www.tropwater.com/

The Tablelands Regional Council serves 11 towns and surrounding districts on the Atherton Tablelands.

Terrain NRM is the regional natural resource management organisation for the Wet Tropics.

Tangaroa Blue Foundation is an Australia-wide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris.

Martine joined the Wet Tropics Waterways team as a Science Technical Officer in early 2024. She is an environmental scientist and ecologist and has worked on water quality and aquatic ecology projects as a consultant and in private industry for over 20 years. She is using her experience in statistical programming and database development to develop new systems for the Report Card.

Richard has been the Science Technical Officer for Wet Tropics Waterways since 2016. His role involves producing the annual results for the waterway health assessment of the wet tropics region using data from a wide range of sources, to present as scores and grades, as well as developing new indicators to address knowledge and monitoring gaps. He works in collaboration with technical staff at other regional report cards.
Richard has a background in freshwater ecology research projects and environmental assessments with CSIRO, University of Queensland, Queensland Government and as a consultant. For a long time he’s been interested in freshwater aquaculture and continues this interest through farming freshwater crayfish, alongside other farming activities.

Simon has over 30 years’ experience advocating for waterways across academia, government and the private sector. He started out in marine botany with a fascination for seagrass, mangroves and macroalgae, and has gone on to lead major environmental initiatives both in Australia and overseas. He has established report cards in eight countries.

Louise joined Wet Tropics Waterways as Executive Officer in 2025.
Louise Hateley is an environmental scientist with over 20 years of experience in natural resource management, water quality, and catchment modelling across government, research, and community sectors. She has held senior scientific and project coordination roles with the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Terrain NRM, leading projects focused on GBR catchment health, waterway management, and sustainable land use. With a record of published research, stakeholder engagement, and project delivery, Louise combines scientific expertise with practical leadership to drive initiatives that protect the Wet Tropics and support community collaboration.