Waterways in good nick
THE Daintree river catchment has been given the gold star for water quality.
The Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership Report Card graded 90 per cent of the region’s freshwater rivers and estuaries a B or an A, with the Daintree performing best.
Healthy Waterways Partnership chairman Professor Steve Turton said the catchments that did best, such as the Daintree, were mostly freshwater catchments in heritagelisted areas with little development.
Inshore and offshore marine areas did not fare as well, with mostly C grades. The South Inshore catchment near Tully scored the sole D of the report.
Professor Turton attributed the struggling inshore marine areas to poor seagrass still recovering from the effects of Daintree River ........................ A Trinity Inlet ............................. B Barron River ............................ B Tully River ............................... B Mulgrave River ....................... B Mossman River ....................... B Johnstone River ..................... B Daintree estuary ..................... B Barron estuary ........................ C Innisfail inshore ....................... C Tully inshore ............................ D A = very good; B = good; C = moderate; D = poor Cyclone Yasi. “The moderate and declining reef systems are also being driven by a crownof-thorns infestation,” he said.
While most of the grades this year were above average, the report only factors in data from last financial year. It does not take into account the impact of heavy rain the region had in March, which Prof Tur- ton said would factor into the next report card.
“One of the reasons we may have good nutrient levels is because we had below-average rainfall over the last few years,” he said. “This trend broke with extensive flooding in early 2018, which is likely to have flushed pollutants off the land into rivers and creeks.
“The surveys for offshore coral were also conducted before the bleaching event that affected reefs between Cairns and Townsville, so next year’s report card will provide a better picture of how coral grades were affected.”
Canegrowers Innisfail manager Wayne Thomas said growers had helped by reducing nitrogen from soil. “It’s challenging, because when you and your father have done it one way for years and you’re asked to change, it’s a risk, but it’s happening and farmers are leading the way,” he said.