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Coastal Catchments Initiative

Project manager: Jon Brodie

Project staff: Aaron Davis, Stephen Lewis, Zoe Bainbridge, Alan Mitchell, Mirjam Maughan, Leo Lymburner, John Dowe, Barry Butler, Damien Burrows, Dom Loong.

Funding: Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM

Timeline: November 2005 – October 2007

Summary:

Information Synthesis:

The Commonwealth Government is establishing targets for improving water quality in the catchments and waters adjacent to the GBRWHA through a set of Water Quality Improvement Plans (WQIP). To develop this Plan for the Burdekin region information on nutrients, sediment and agricultural chemicals entering valuable and sensitive aquatic ecosystems such as wetlands, coral reefs and seagrass meadows are needed as well as knowledge of the current status of these waterbodies. The current project reviews existing knowledge of water quality issues in the Burdekin region.

Grazing and sugar lands:

The objective of this component of the CCI project is to document how cropping (sugar) and grazing management practices impact water quality, to identify the practices that will contribute most to positive water quality outcomes and to communicate the findings to stakeholders. The component project officers will facilitate partnerships amongst the stakeholders in order to achieve this objective. The project outcomes will also contribute to the development of management strategies to achieve targeted reductions in pollution entering the catchment and GBRWHA receiving waters.

CCI factsheet

Reports:

  • Lewis S., Davis A., Brodie J., Bainbridge Z., McConnell V. and Maughan M., 2007. Pesticides in the lower Burdekin and Don River catchments. ACTFR report no. 07/05, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville.

  • Lymburner L. and Dowe J., 2006. A component of the Coastal Catchments Initiative Report: Assessing the condition of riparian vegetation in the Burdekin catchment using satellite imagery and field surveys. ACTFR report no. 06/21, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville.

  • Maughan M., Burrows D., Butler B., Lymburner L. and Lukacs G., 2006. Assessing the Condition of Wetlands in the Burdekin Catchment Using Existing GIS Data and Field Knowledge, for the Coastal Catchments Initiative. ACTFR report no. 06/20, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville, 78pp.

  • Mitchell A., Lewis S., Brodie J., Bainbridge Z. and Maughan M., 2007. Water Quality Issues in the Burdekin Region. ACTFR report no. 07/03, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville.

  • Mitchell A., Furnas M., De'ath G., Brodie J., and Lewis S., 2006. A report into the water quality condition of the Burdekin River and surrounds based on the AIMS end-of-catchment sampling program. ACTFR report no. 06/06, Australian Centre for Tropical Freshwater Research, James Cook University, Townsville, 119pp.