
Streambank Erosion.
Streambank erosion, caused by poor riparian vegetation and heavy rainfall, is a source of sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
Healthy waterways underpin our lifestyles and livelihoods. When waterways thrive, so do we.
With nine short sharp rivers flowing into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, contaminants from land based activities including agriculture and urban development are key issues for water quality in the region.
The Wet Tropics is one of the six bioregions adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef where poor water quality runoff from land-based activities is one of the key issues affecting the health of the reef.
In recent years much of the effort to improve water quality has been targeted towards supporting farmers to reduce nitrogen, pesticides and sediment runoff. While progress is being made, it is not happening fast enough to meet the ambitious water quality targets set by the Government.
These include reducing nitrogen by up to 80% and sediment by up to 50% by 2025 in key catchments including the Wet Tropics.
The Wet Tropics is a hotspot for nitrogen (fertiliser) and pesticides due to the following:
What has been done so far?
Many community groups and organisations are already engaged in activities to improve the quality of water flowing off the land into the Reef. These are guided by the Wet Tropics Water Quality Improvement Plan.
In 2015 Terrain NRM (one of the Partnership’s members) released the new Wet Tropics Water Quality Improvement Plan (2015-2020) after extensive consultation with stakeholders in the region. The aim of this plan is to better manage our waterways to deal with expanding agriculture and urban development.
Regional Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIPs) are a part of the Queensland and Australian Government’s Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan. Their purpose is to bring together the latest science, and identify targeted approaches to tackling water quality issues at a regional level.
The Wet Tropics Report Card complements the Water Quality Improvement Plan by providing scientific information to determine whether current strategies to improve waterway health are working and what can be done to improve them.
For more information on the Wet Tropics Water Quality Improvement Plan go to the Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country website.
Streambank erosion, caused by poor riparian vegetation and heavy rainfall, is a source of sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
A mass die off of fish can be caused by a number of different factors and they're a reminder of the delicate balance of healthy waterways.
Thousands of fish barriers are preventing fish from being able to migrate between different habitats to complete their life cycle.
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.
Greg is a career Aquatic Scientist who has worked extensively on waterways and waterway health across eastern Australia for almost 30 years, including estuarine and marine environments. He’s been living in the Wet Tropics Region since 2017 and continues to work as a consulting scientist on a range of projects for multiple clients.
Greg returns to Wet Tropics Waterways as Independent Chair, having previously managed the partnership from 2018-2021, and was involved with three report card launches, and overseeing the inaugural Urban Water Stewardship Framework implementation and the inaugural Wet Tropics Waterways forum.
Outside of his profession Greg enjoys a range of recreational pursuits that involve exploring the rivers, estuaries and coastal zones of the Wet Tropics.