waterways/wetlands – Page 32

Community partnerships restore Queensland wetlands

Jun 242013

Original story at WetlandCare Australia: Helping Hands Improve Wetland Habitat at Pasturage Reserve

WetlandCare Australia have worked in partnership with Bundaberg Regional Council, Friends of Pasturage Reserve, Bundaberg Landcare, Gidarjil rangers, the local Impact team and the Bargara Lions Club to undertake the planting of 950 local native trees at Pasturage Reserve.

Pasturage Reserve, adjoining the coastal village of Bargara, is one of the 20 important wetlands targeted for environmental restoration works under WetlandCare Australia’s $2.5 million Coastal 20 wetlands restoration project, funded under the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program. The area is of high conservation value because it contains one of the few melaleuca swamp remnants along the Burnett-Elliott coast and provides habitat for threatened species.

WetlandCare Australia staff, Gidarjil Rangers, Impact team members and Landcare volunteers worked together to plant over 950 native trees at Pasturage Reserve last week.

Bundaberg Council and the local Impact team had done a fantastic job of preparing the site prior to the planting day on Wednesday 17^th April. Over 950 wetland seedlings had been carefully propagated by the Bundaberg Landcare nursery and the willing and capable hands of the Gidarjil ranger group, Impact team and Landcare volunteers along with WetlandCare Australia staff made fast work of getting the young plants carefully installed into their new surroundings. The hard-working team was sustained by a BBQ lunch kindly provided and prepared by the Bargara Lions Club.

The success of the tree planting event was a direct result of a strong collaboration between the partner organisations and the local community. Adam Gosling, Regional Coordinator at WetlandCare Australia, said “This is a great example of what can be achieved when everyone works together towards a common goal. WetlandCare Australia could not have achieved such a great result without the collaboration and support of these groups and local community”

This successful planting project will increase coastal native vegetation and habitat, enhancing the existing remnant paperbark and estuarine vegetation communities at Pasturage Reserve. Revegetation of the area will also reduce the impacts of invasive weed species and will improve water quality to the adjacent important turtle breeding areas.

For more information on the Coastal 20 project please contact:

Laura White

Senior Project Officer

02 6681 6169

laurawhite@wetlandcare.com.au

Pesticide regulations failing to protect river biodiversity

environment, waterways/wetlands

Jun 232013

Transcript from The World Today (ABC)

ELEANOR HALL: Australian scientists are calling for tighter regulation of pesticides, citing a study showing the current regime is failing to prevent the loss of water insects and other river life.

Water boatman (Notonectidae). Photo: K. Hawking, The Online Bug Guide

The research has found that freshwater aquatic insects are 42 per cent less common in polluted areas, compared to less contaminated areas in Europe.

Lexi Metherell has been speaking to one of the study's authors, Dr Ben Kefford, from the UTS Centre for Environmental Sustainability.

BEN KEFFORD: Pesticides are widely used in agriculture throughout the world and because they're designed to harm agricultural pests they also have the ability to harm the natural environment as well.

And because of that, regulatory authorities around the world have got a lot of steps to try to prevent harm to the natural environment from pesticides and in most places, including Australia, they aim not to have significant off-field impacts.

But what we're saying is that's not the case. We're showing that pesticides currently used in recent studies in southern Victoria, in France and in Germany, we are having a significant loss of biodiversity in streams and that's quite important.

LEXI METHERELL: You find that the difference between the biodiversity in contaminated rivers, versus non-contaminated rivers was between 27 per cent in Australia and up to 42 per cent in Europe. Why is biodiversity in rivers important?

BEN KEFFORD: We have declining biodiversity throughout the world and the loss of biodiversity in fresh water is some of the greatest of all ecosystems, more so than some other ecosystems, and the biodiversity's important in its own right and we're just losing all these species.

Plus, they're also important in what they do for us, in that they also allow ecosystems to function healthily and we can get benefits from those in fresh water environments, things like fresh water, fish, recreation et cetera.

So, if we don't look after the organisms that live in the fresh water, the fresh water won't look after us and we won't have those benefits.

LEXI METHERELL: What can be done to ameliorate the effect of fertilisers and pesticides on river biodiversity?

BEN KEFFORD: Once it's in the river and once it's causing an impact, it's hard to do a lot about it, but what we can do is we can try to stop it getting through in the first place and that could include things like vegetative buffer strips planted along the sides of rivers, trying to prevent channelised flow going directly from agricultural crops into rivers.

But it probably also should include things like different types of studies when pesticides are being registered, to not just looking at the effects in the laboratory and in semi-natural test systems, but also considering the effects in the real world, like what we did here.

And, I think one of the reasons why the current regulation is failing to protect stream ecosystems is because the current regulation is based around laboratory studies and semi-natural test systems.

It's not based around, or doesn't include a component of looking at the effects of pesticides in the real world, in real streams.

LEXI METHERELL: And should this study provide the impetus for tougher regulation in this area?

BEN KEFFORD: I would think so. I think it should provide the impetus to reviewing how we register pesticides and how we manage them. So, to look at their effects in the field should be an integral component of their registration and management.

And, after they've been registered, there should be some component of monitoring to see whether the assumptions behind the risk assessments in the registration were in fact accurate.

Currently, that's not the case.

ELEANOR HALL: That's environmental scientist, Dr Ben Kefford, from the University of Technology Sydney.

Fresh fears over fish research farm

environment, fisheries, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jun 222013

Original story at ABC News

A wild dolphin swim operator says a new marine finfish research lease approved for Port Stephens will be the start of the destruction of the area's pristine marine environment.

The State Government has approved the 20 hectare aquaculture lease near Hawks Nest to allow for research into species, such as the Yellowtail Kingfish.

Fisheries New South Wales has previously said it will have minimal effects on the environment.

But Andrew Parker from Dolphin Swim Australia says he has grave fears about antibiotic use, disease, an increase in sharks and water quality issues.

The operator of a Port Stephens dolphin swim business concerned about a finfish research lease. Supplied: Dolphin Swim Australia

"Look, I think it's just the start of the decline of what is a totally pristine marine environment up there at Port Stephens," he said.

"I think it's an absolutely poor use of such a marine asset.

"It's a five-year trial, it's on the back of an existing lease, add to the fin fish trial.

"It's going to start with Mulloway and Kingfish, but the ultimate goal is tuna.

"We all know it."

"It's a very, very wasteful and very environmentally costly way of making money for corporations.

"Chemicals, pharmaceuticals, disease, effluent, right down to of course the ubiquitous predators that will be attracted to the area.

"The possibility of disease getting out into that area is absolutely paramount."

But Port Stephens MP Craig Baumann says there is nothing to worry about.

"The scientists that we have at the Port Stephens Fisheries Research Centre are the best in the world.

"They're obviously very, very careful of anything they introduce into the environment.

"They're very, very knowledgable in their science and I have no real concerns that they'll allow anything, that would affect the environment adversely, to happen."

The Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson says the research is vital in the development of sustainable fisheries.

"By the year 2050 there's going to be nine billion hungry mouths to feed on this planet, all wanting protein.

"By doing the work now on how to breed sustainable species in a fish farm environment we can make sure that protein will be available en masse.

"We're developing diets, making sure we've got validated equipment and technology, we'll be conducting environmental monitoring around this research lease.

"So it is important work, it will take five years to complete, but we expect to have some very good information at the end of that period.

Dam-Removal to Benefit Fish, Frogs, and People

fisheries, waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jun 222013

Original story by Sandra Postel National Geographic: Fish, Frogs, and People to Benefit from Biggest Dam-Removal Project in California History

Today marks a historic event for California rivers: the launch of the biggest dam removal project in state history.

Over the next 28 months, the beautiful Carmel River will be set free to flow more naturally for 70 percent of its length as the 106-foot (32.3 meter) San Clemente Dam is dismantled.

San Clemente Dam in California, now coming down. Photo via sanclementedamremoval.org

Downstream of the dam, threatened fish and frogs will get a new lease on life as critical habitats open up. And some 1,500 households will enjoy greater safety as the dam’s risk of failure during a major earthquake or flood event disappears.

Built in 1921 to store drinking water for the burgeoning population of Monterey County, the San Clemente Dam is a concrete arch structure located 18.5 miles (29.8 kilometers) upstream from the Pacific Ocean.

While built for a good cause, the dam’s reservoir has lost 95 percent of its original water storage capacity due to the build-up of silt and sediment carried in by the Carmel River. Historically, the river carried that sediment load downstream, keeping its channel functioning well and replenishing coastal beaches. But the dam trapped the sediment in the reservoir, causing it to fill – a common problem with dams worldwide.

San Clemente Creek, where the Carmel River will be routed while the dam is taken out. Photo via sanclementedamremoval.org

The Monterey Peninsula now relies primarily on groundwater for its drinking water supply.

Meanwhile, the dam became a safety hazard as its risk of failure increased. After the state of California’s division on dam safety declared San Clemente “seismically unsafe,” California American Water, the public utility that owns the dam, assessed its options for reducing the dam’s threats. Taking into account cost, environmental benefits and other factors, the idea of tearing the dam down rose to the top of the list.

The project will open up 25 contiguous miles of unimpaired spawning and rearing habitat for a threatened run of steelhead trout. Like salmon, steelhead spend most of their lives in the ocean but move upstream to spawn and grow in coastal rivers and streams. Big dams like San Clemente block their migration and destroy their habitats.

Over the decades, the combination of dams, diversions, and urban development has caused the population of steelhead to plummet. In 1997, federal officials listed the fish as threatened.

For steelhead on the central California coast, “removing this dam is the single best thing you can do for their recovery,” says Samuel P. Schuchat, Executive Officer of the California State Coastal Conservancy.

The dam removal will also restore the natural movement of sediment downstream toward the sea, replenish sand on Carmel Beach, and improve habitat for the California Red-Legged frog, the largest native frog in the western United States and now federally listed as threatened, as well.

The Carmel too will enjoy a revival.

In a gentle ode to the river, John Steinbeck wrote in his classic 1945 work, Cannery Row: “The Carmel is a lovely little river. It isn’t very long but in its course it has everything a river should have.”

Indeed, over its 36-mile run from the Santa Lucia Mountains to the sea, the Carmel flows through a diverse array of habitats, from mixed evergreen forests and montane chaparral to coastal prairie and sand dunes.

The first stage of the project involves some innovative engineering to re-route the Carmel River into San Clemente Creek so that the sediment behind the dam can be stabilized to remain safely in place. The re-routing will allow the river to resume its more natural, pre-dam flow to the sea.

Once the river is diverted away from the sediment-filled reservoir, dismantling of the dam will begin.

The $83 million project has garnered a wide range of support, including that of the conservation groups American Rivers, the Carmel River Watershed Conservancy, the Nature Conservancy, and Trout Unlimited, as well as the federal Bureau of Reclamation and Fish & Wildlife Service, among others.

California American Water, the dam owner, will pay $49 million of the total cost; the California State Coastal Conservancy and the National Marine Fisheries Service will raise the additional $34 million through public and private sources. The Nature Conservancy is contributing $1 million to the project.

San Clemente Dam under construction in 1921. Photo via sanclementedamremoval.org

In addition, California American Water is donating 928 acres (375 hectares) of property around the dam to the federal Bureau of Land Management, which in turn is working with the Monterey parks district to develop recreational trails for use by the public.

If all goes according to plan, both the project’s ecological engineering features as well as its public-private partnership may serve as a model for other river restoration efforts across the state and nation.

“This is an opportunity to essentially restore an entire river system from top to bottom,” says Schuchat of the state coastal conservancy.

“You take the dam out and suddenly you’ve got a natural free-flowing river again – and that’s just really exciting. “

Sandra Postel is director of the Global Water Policy Project and Freshwater Fellow of the National Geographic Society. She is co-creator of Change the Course, the national freshwater conservation and restoration campaign being piloted in the Colorado River Basin.

Online Australian Freshwater Bug Guide

waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jun 212013

Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates

Ever wondered about those swimmers that found their way into your backyard pond uninvited? Or looked into your dipnet after chasing rainbows and wondered ...what on earth is that?!? The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre has developed an online guide to the bugs, worms, mites, sponges, and all manner of other invertebrates from Australian streams, ponds, rivers, ephemeral wetlands and any other freshwater body you can think of. With keys, identification guides, plenty of photos, and lots of other resources it's well worth checking out.

Mayfly larva, Ephemeroptera

The Online Bug Guide

The interactive guide to the Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates is designed to provide ecological and taxonomic information to enable community groups, students and scientists to readily identify inland aquatic invertebrates. The content focuses on invertebrates from fresh and inland saline surface waters of mainland Australia and Tasmania, in particular taxa utilised in routine biomonitoring. General information is given for each of the major aquatic invertebrate groups. Then successively more specific information is provided to genus level (not all groups). Taxonomic keys are provided to family level for the groups utilised in biomonitoring then to subfamily level or genus level for some families. Detailed information and key references are not included for the following major groups; Aphanoneura, Bryozoa, Gastrotrichia, Nematoda, Nematomorpha, Nemertea, Protozoa, Rotifera and Tardigrada. The status of taxonomic levels above Order are reviewed or debated as knowledge is gained or refuted with the majority of groupings remaining constant. For this reason, major groups and minor groups above Order level have not been assigned taxonomic status in this Guide.

Australian endangered species: Tasmanian snails and limpets

threatened species, waterways/wetlands

Jun 212013

Original story by Leon Barmuta, University of Tasmania at The Conversation

While you’re worrying about pygmy-possums and hairy-nosed wombats spare a thought for some of Australia’s least known endangered species. Freshwater molluscs – snails, slugs and mussels – are in trouble right around the country. Two species from Tasmania might even be gone.

It’s hard being a tiny snail in a Great Lake. Karen Richards

The freshwater snail Beddomeia tumida is one of dozens of species in Australia, but it is the only one that is exclusively found in a lake: all other species are stream-dwellers. With maximum size of around 4 mm, this species is easy to overlook.

Freshwater limpets are similarly minute, but Ancylastrum cumingianus is the world’s biggest freshwater limpet coming in at a whopping 12 mm: hence the grand epithet of “Great Lake Giant Limpet”. There are no recent photographs of this monster: you’ll have to be satisfied with Jules René Bourguignat’s original drawings when he described this species.

Both species are found in Great Lake, Australia’s second largest permanent freshwater lake by area. These two species are probably the most obscure of the many endemic and listed species in Great Lake, but their stories differ. One was once numerous and has all but disappeared. The other provides grounds for cautious optimism.

12mm of molluscan monster: the Great Lake Giant Limpet. Wikimedia

Status

Beddomeia tumida is one of 37 species of this genus listed as endangered under the Tasmanian Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 and appears restricted to Great Lake. The IUCN currently lists it as critically endangered but possibly extinct.

Happily, it appears to have been rediscovered during surveys of Great Lake by Hydro Tasmania in 2007, although better preserved specimens are needed by expert taxonomists to confirm this fully. Earlier surveys in the 1990s failed to find any specimens in shallow habitats or tributary streams of Great Lake, so these recent records suggest that this species prefers deeper waters.

By contrast, Ancylastrum cumingianus was more widespread, with records from Great Lake, Lake St Clair and some other lakes on the Tasmanian Central Plateau. It was once so common in the mid-1800s that specimens were sent to museums around the world. Sadly, however, the last museum records in Australia are from 1950, with the most recent specimens only recorded from the guts of introduced trout.

Threats

Ancylastrum cumingianus, like most in this group, is most likely associated with submerged aquatic plants. Virtually nothing has been recorded of its ecology. The introduction of trout has been implicated in its decline, but there is virtually no hard evidence.

Great Lake in central Tasmania. Flickr/Raam Dev

Ecological knowledge of Beddomeia tumida is similarly scarce. Extrapolating from knowledge of its sister species, this snail is likely vulnerable to habitat degradation resulting from changes in catchment land use. Currently land use is light, but any intensification in the future or major changes in catchment vegetation as the climate gets drier could degrade habitat quality.

Because it appears to have persisted over the last 100 years of manipulations of Great Lake for hydroelectricity and irrigation supply, it is probably resilient to these modest changes in water level. Again, climate change may result in much more rapid, extreme and prolonged changes in water level which could threaten this species.

More immediate threats, however, are probably posed by inadvertent introduction of competitors such as the New Zealand mud snail, Potamopyrgus antipodarum.

Strategy

The lack of basic ecological information is the biggest obstacle to effective conservation of these species.

Concerted, rigorous surveys are urgently needed to determine whether Anycylastrum cumingianus is still with us. Without reassessing its status, further actions for this species are futile.

Now that Beddomeia tumida has potentially been rediscovered, the Threatened Species and Marine Section of Tasmania’s DPIPWE is finalising a Listing Statement for it using the recent data collected with Hydro Tasmania. Most of the planned actions are similar to those recommended for other species of Beddomeia: raise local awareness in the catchment of Great Lake to prevent degradation or loss of habitat.

There are already protocols to prevent the spread of exotic species and diseases. Continuing education campaigns to foster strong hygiene by anglers and boating enthusiasts will be vital to prevent invasion by exotic competitors such as Potamopyrgus antipodarum.

With these actions in place, attention should turn to researching the role of extreme and prolonged changes water levels on the habitats of these and other species endemic to Tasmania’s highland lakes. Under climate change, all of these lakes are at risk owing to reduced inflows and changed catchment vegetation as fires become more frequent and intense.

Conclusion

Cryptic, small threatened invertebrates are easily overlooked. Collectively, they have much to tell us about the evolutionary and biogeographic processes that we need to understand to adapt to and manage for climate change.

While things don’t look good for the largest freshwater limpet, our experience with Beddomeia tumida suggests that modest but targeted investigations can reveal some reasons to be cheerful in the otherwise glum prognosis for biodiversity in fresh waters worldwide.

It’s a story that could be repeated more often. Strategic, but modest investments can yield excellent returns for conserving such species.

The Conversation is running a series on Australian endangered species. See it here

Leon Barmuta works for the University of Tasmania and has been sub-contracted as a consultant at various times for the National Water Commission, Hydro Tasmania, Aquenal Pty Ltd and Woodlots and Wetlands Pty Ltd. He has received funding from the Australian Research Council, CRC for Forestry, Department of Primary Industries Parks Water and Environment (DPIPWE) Tasmania, Forest Practices Authority of Tasmania, the endangered NCCARF and the extinct Land and Water Australia.

This article was originally published at The Conversation.
Read the original article.

Top gong for river work

community, waterways/wetlands

Jun 202013

Original story by Matthew Cawood, Queensland Country Life

FOCUS, and then more focus - that's the key to one of the country's most awarded natural resource management organisations, the Condamine Alliance.

Carl Mitchell, Manager Water and Phil McCullough, CEO with the United National World Environment Day trophy, Riverprize trophy and Banksia Award trophy.

The Alliance last week carried off the 2013 United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Award for Biodiversity, which comes on the heels of the 2012 Australian Riverprize and 2012 Banksia Award for Water late last year.

The Alliance's goal is to restore the Queensland river system’s health and increase native fish populations to 60 per cent of pre-European settlement levels by 2050.

Chief executive Phil McCullough thinks the organisation and its partners are already halfway there along 500km of the river, and he speculates that it might be possible to get most of the way to the Alliance's goal within another decade.

This sort of progress is a dream for many NRM organisations. So what's the Alliance's secret sauce?

First, Mr McCullough said, it has to be acknowledged that no NRM organisation can do it all.

"We picked six focus areas across the catchment, and then we went on to focus on areas within those focus areas," Mr McCullough said.

"When you focus in on an area so that you get some results in small ways, that's when you start to get traction. You can then start to build on those successes and turn them into big strategic things.

"It's about what you can fix today that will have a benefit tomorrow."

Focus also means ignoring some pressing issues in favour of the task at hand.

"Concerns about gas and mining could easily take over what we're doing, but in the end you have to focus on what you want to do. In our case, that's bringing this magnificent river back to some degree of health."

Getting the whole community engaged with the process is one of the biggest challenges for the Alliance, as for any NRM group, and one of the areas where it is most necessary to succeed.

Rather than "forcing the journey on people", Condamine Alliance "allows them to be involved".

"Farmers live in communities," Mr McCullogh said, "and the last thing we want is to have them ostracised from their communities because they have been tagged as environmentalists or greenies when the mainstream in their communities is talking about loss of productivity.

"The last thing we do is go out and tell them that we have a solution. That's where you need good officers to go out and have a conversation. They need to understand what farmers are going through - the person needs to appreciate how these projects are going to affect the farmers' own time and effort."

The Alliance also talks to that overlooked farm demographic, children, who take their own perspectives home to their parents.

The United National World Environment Day trophy, Riverprize trophy and Banksia Award trophy.

Once farmers have started on some small projects, Mr McCullough said their momentum tends to carry them into bigger endeavours.

"You've got to really find out what makes your community hum, and get it humming. Once you've identified that, you can keep it going. You can't exactly retrofit what we've done here to other communities."

Condamine Alliance doesn't do things on its own, either. It's part of a network of people and organisations, who collectively help keep the funding coming in.

"You get some hard knocks, and you get some wins, and you have to roll with both," Mr McCullough reflected.

"It's not all peaches and cream most of the time. There's a lot of effort that goes into making change occur."

The Alliance learned early on that while success is sweet, it's not always a good idea to talk about it.

"A few years ago we were so excited about bringing some of these big cod back that we advertised the fact," Mr McCullogh said.

"The Fisheries guys later pulled out a whole heap of nets from that stretch. You have to be careful about what you do."

Minister ignores threat to Reef

government, waterways/wetlands

Jun 202013

Original story by AMCS: Minister ignores greatest new threat to Reef: Industrialisation

The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) has challenged the Minister for the Environment Tony Burke to address the core concerns of the World Heritage Committee over the issue that could ruin the Great Barrier Reef - industrialisation including port development, thousands more coal ships and dredging and dumping in the Reef's waters.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke. Photo: eco news

Felicity Wishart, Great Barrier Reef campaign director for AMCS, said that Minister Burke did not once mention dredging or dumping, shipping or port development in his response to the World Heritage Committee which yesterday denounced Australia's performance in protecting one of the wonders of the world.

“The Environment Minister has a responsibility to protect the Great Barrier Reef from industrialisation. However he appears to be ignoring the risks, the warnings and the impact of dredging, dumping and shipping.

“We are witnessing the biggest, fastest and most widespread industrial development in the history of the Queensland coast and it deserves to be addressed by Minister Burke.

“The world is worried, Australians are worried, scientists have expressed their concern, local communities are up in arms and no one along the coast wants what happened in Gladstone to spread up the Reef.

“The Queensland and Australian governments are claiming that everything is fine and there’s nothing to worry about, according to their press statements yesterday.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

“We call on both governments to actually address the concerns of science, communities, fishers and the international community.

“If Minister Burke is serious about protecting the Reef, and the $6 billion dollars and 60,000 jobs that go with it, he must start by rejecting the proposal to allow three million tonnes of dredging proposed for Abbot Point.

“We have heard consistently that the Reef is safe because the governments have put funds into decreasing farm run-off and improving water quality. That is progress – but it won’t stop the shipping, dredging, dumping and port development that could undo any good work by farmers and ruin the Reef.

“Minister Burke has a choice. Does he want to leave a legacy that will protect the Reef from this massive new threat or be seen to have contributed to its decline.

“We urge Minister Burke to take a stand and defend our Great Barrier Reef,” said Ms Wishart.

Media Contact

Adrian Dodd on 0401726476

Bob Irwin to ‘Fight for the Reef’

waterways/wetlands, wildlife

Jun 202013

Original story from AMCS: Bob Irwin tours coastal Queensland to ‘Fight for the Reef’

As part of the Fight for the Reef campaign, veteran Wildlife Warrior Bob Irwin will be speaking at public meetings in Rockhampton, Bowen, Townsville and Cairns next week.

Conservationist, Bob Irwin.
Photo: Julie Lightfoot, the Cairns Post

Earlier this year the Australian Marine Conservation Society and WWF-Australia launched a new advertising campaign featuring Bob Irwin, calling on all Australians to help protect the Great Barrier Reef from rapid industrialisation including new ports, dredging, dumping and increased shipping.

The campaign is highlighting the growing concern among Australians and the international community about the speed and scale of industrialisation along the Reef’s coastline.

“The Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but our governments seem to have forgotten that fact. The Reef belongs to all of us, not to big industry to use as a dredge dumping ground and shipping superhighway,” Bob Irwin said.

“The Australian people are the only ones who can make a difference to protecting the Reef. It’s your Reef, but you’re going to have to fight for it,” he said.

Felicity Wishart, Great Barrier Reef Campaign Director for the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said the threats to the Reef are deeply troubling.

“The Queensland Government is fast-tracking mega ports along the Reef and planning to dredge and dump millions of tonnes of mud and rock in the Reef’s waters,” Ms Wishart said.

“The Great Barrier Reef is a major tourist destination generating $6 billion a year and supporting 60,000 jobs. No one is going to want come half way around the world to see mega industrial ports.

“The fight belongs to everyone. We urge Queenslanders to join us at the public meeting in their local town. Come and meet Bob and sign up to Fight for the Reef,” she said.

Learn more and join the Fight for the Reef at www.fightforthereef.org.au

Bob will return to regional Queensland in August to visit Gladstone, Airlie Beach and Mackay.

Tour dates:

Rockhampton: 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Monday 24th June, Walter Reid Cultural Centre, Cnr of Derby and East St
Townsville: 6:30pm - 8:30pm. Tuesday 25th June, Reef HQ, 2-68 Flinders St
Bowen: 6pm - 8pm. Wednesday 26th June, Bowen RSL, 38 Williams Street
Cairns: 6:30 pm - 8:30pm. Thursday 27th June, Rydges Plaza Hotel, Level 3, Cnr of Spence & Grafton St

Media contact

Jane Garcia 0434 489 533

What does the reef mean to you?

community, waterways/wetlands

Jun 192013

Original story by Nathalie Fernbach with Kim Kleidon, ABC Capricornia

How do you feel about the reef?
Jeremy Goldberg - supplied

Chemical runoff, coral bleaching, fish populations, there are plenty of studies being done to check up on the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

But there's a gap in knowledge about the human side of the reef - the views of the locals and visitors who interact with it or make their living from it.

James Cook University and CSIRO are working together to fill this gap by interviewing more than 5000 people about their perception of, use of and feelings about the reef.

"We have decades and decades of information about the fish, the corals all of the actual animals that live out in the ocean," says researcher Jeremy Goldberg.

"But we lack a really comprehensive analysis or information about the entire Great Barrier Reef about the people about what they think, what they feel, what they value about the Great Barrier Reef," he says.

Four teams of researchers will quiz visitors and locals in Cairns and Cooktown, Mackay and the Whitsundays, Townsville and Bowen and Rockhampton and Gladstone.

Additional research will target commercial fishers and tourism operators to gain their perspectives too.

Mr Goldberg says he has been surprised and encouraged by the passion that people have for the reef.

"It is really rewarding for me personally to go and talk to just the general public to hear their stories and hear the emotion that it just brings out in them," he said.

Findings will be delivered to reef mangers, businesses and government to help them make decisions about the future of the reef.

"We are going to have a giant database with loads of information and it is going to be our job as scientists to try to tease out the key messages to try to tell people what we have found and why," says Mr Goldberg.

It is hoped the findings will be available by the end of 2013.

Find out more about the study on the CSIRO website.

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