
Photo competition 2025
Capture the beauty of our local waterways for your chance to win awesome prizes.
Healthy waterways underpin our lifestyles and livelihoods. When waterways thrive, so do we.
Wetlands constructed on sugarcane farms two decades ago are helping to boost fish populations in Tully’s freshwater systems.
Research has found the lagoons are capturing and regulating floodwaters, supporting native fish and improving cane productivity.
Dr Nathan Waltham, a scientist at James Cook University’s Tropwater Research Centre, says surveys found 36 native fish species and three invasive species now inhabit these wetlands, including popular migratory fish like barramundi and mangrove jack.
“Good connectivity between freshwater and saltwater is necessary for the life cycle of many fish,’’ he says. “Finding these migratory species means fish are using these lagoons as nurseries, as well as moving across the floodplain during the wet season to spawn in marine waters.”
CANEGROWERS’ Peter Lucy said the farmers involved were proud of the outcomes and well aware of the important role the lagoons have as fish habitat.
“The wetlands have been a win-win outcome for the growers involved. Soil excavated during construction can be used to improve low lying areas, and the wetlands create all year-round habitat and filtration systems,” he said.
Well-designed and constructed wetlands in areas of boggy, low-production farmland can play an important role in supporting the growth of fish species and improving water quality.
Unfortunately, many wetland areas in the Wet Tropics have been cleared or modified. The good news is more projects are using constructed wetlands to improve reef water quality.
Dr Waltham says these wetlands are vital to help fulfill the functions that impacted natural wetlands can no longer perform.
“We need wetlands. They are essential for protecting our coastline, buffering against flood waters, contributing to fisheries’ productivity and acting as powerful carbon sinks to help tackle climate change.”
Tropwater’s Dr Adam Canning, who co-led the research, says 29 wetlands were constructed across 10 cane farms, with farmers taking responsibility for maintenance.
“The farmers are really proud of these lagoons and what they have accomplished in supporting fisheries and biodiversity more generally, and rightly so,” he says.
“Tully is one of North Queensland’s most sugarcane-dominated catchments. There’s a lot of work being done in this region and farmers are motivated to be involved in more initiatives to help improve water quality and to support biodiversity.”
Wetland fast facts
Wetland research was funded through the Australian Government National Environment Science Program Tropical Water Quality Hub.
Capture the beauty of our local waterways for your chance to win awesome prizes.
Road upgrades to tree planting and improvements to sewers, local Councils are leading the way
More than 200 species of jellyfish are found along the Great Barrier Reef.
Martine joined the Wet Tropics Waterways team as a Science Technical Officer in early 2024 and is keen to apply her experience in statistical programming and database development for the Report Card.
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.
Martine has many hobbies and is currently dabbling in horticulture.
With a degree in marine biology and zoology from JCU, Phil has had a diverse career covering research in fisheries biology, 15 years in reef tourism and 13 years with GBRMPA delivering engagement and partnerships programs. Since 2019 he has been self-employed and operates as a consultant to a range of stakeholders on waterway related programs.
He is a keen fisherman.
James joined Wet Tropics Waterways as Executive Officer in 2021 and is passionate about working with stakeholders to communicate the value of our unique waterways. His role involves facilitating and coordinating our partnership program, growing our network and investment into the report card program, and science communication. James oversaw the 2022 Innovations in Waterway Health Forum, and hosted season four of the Reef and Rivers podcast.
James is an ecologist and has previously worked on wetland management in the Murray Darling basin, fish passage in Mackay, and aquatic research in the Wet Tropics.
Outside of work you’ll find him in a local waterway with a mask and snorkel, or hiking or biking around our beautiful region.
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.