Report from: SEQ Waterways Forum Griffith Uni Eco Centre March 15th 2012

The theme was Saving Moreton Bay and recovery of the Bay from Floods

Three great speakers were Dr James Udy, Chief Scientist, Healthy Waterways; Professor Rod Connolly from Griffith Uni and Australian Rivers Institute and Toby Hutcheon Executive Director Queensland Conservation Council (QCC).

There was some eye-opening research from Prof Rod Connolly, who is studying corals and seagrass areas of the Bay in the wake of the huge floods of last year.

To read the two articles (they are brief), Google Griffith News – Environment and Planning sidebar – look at two stories – 1. Moreton Bay Ecosystems Still At Risk and 2. Habitat Connectivity improves fish numbers.

The research shows the Bay is suffering from degradation from polluting sediment. Areas stripped of vegetation by the massive 2011 floods, are being colonised quickly by algae outcompeting the slower regenerating Seagrasses, which normally grow in these areas.

Algal growth is a problem for many other species and coral especially, is a direct loser when species of “turf” Algae spread over the corals which have been killed and the turf algae grow faster than the coral which does not allow the coral to regenerate in these areas. And so the coral reef in these areas is extinguished.

What the research has found is that the protected Green Zones have more fish in greater diversity and many algae feeding fish species, because of the regenerated habitat helps them thrive, along with a great diversity of other fish and marine species recovering.

These algae eaters are allowing the coral to regenerate and also suppress the species that are out competing the seagrass. This is in stark contrast from the unprotected areas of the Bay, where lack of diversity is allowing algae to take over and impact on the sea floor.

Coral health is an indicator of biodiversity of the sea floor and turtles, dugong and many fish species have suffered because of a lack of natural recovery processes being able to occur in Moreton Bay.

The Green Zones are regenerating coral at an extraordinary rate compared to unprotected zones and seagrass is also regenerating better.

The graphs for species and diversity were not quantified at the presentation but if they were correct by my eye – there was many times more fish in the Green Zones and many more species as well.

The evidence of the success of Green Zones has a little slow emerging to be able to protect the fish stocks of the Bay. If we want to protect our fishing resources past this rather “sell-fish” generation, we have to seek out the results of research and get the facts into the public arena. Then, hopefully, apathy will give way to informed debate and real actions to expand the Green Zones and provide the Bay with its natural resilience to recover from increasing extreme weather events – like last year’s disastrous floods, will occur.

On the issue of Saving the Bay – please go to www.savemoretonbay.com.au and sign the petition. It will go to the parties contesting the State Election seeking their support.

If our Bay is to survive – we have to become informed and support the plans for a Save the Bay Plan - funded by governments, utilities and developer contributions.

Moreton Bay is arguably South East Qld’s greatest economic, environmental and recreational asset. Poor land management, lack of funding and the lack of a shared vision for the future are the threats we now must confront.

We have a $50 billion asset with no management plan? Please consider signing the petition.

Prepared by Wayne Cameron

Last Tuesday (28 February 2012) we had our Industrial Clean up Day as part of the Clean Up Australia program. The site is a TMR owned site at Canberra St, Hemmant.

There were only four of us: Heather and Wayne (B4C), Aline and Julie (Port Connect and TMR). We managed to fill a skip with rubbish from a mangrove wetland of 1ha.

Prior to the Clean-up Day in preparation for the event the B4C works team plus an excavator and truck removed obstructions to a vital drainage channel into this wetland and also some built up debris to fill a truck. The work team also waded through the wetland removing larger items and placing smaller rubbish on the sides for the clean-up.

It is hoped that the vast amount of dumped oil in the wetland can also be removed at a later date.

We looked like Shags affected by the Exon Valdez disaster. It seems our industrial areas have many people who think our waterways are for dumping toxic liquids as well as white goods and furniture. But we are working on that – and we need to get our esteemed political parties interested too.

This event proved a little spark can ignite a larger flame. With a $500 grant from Healthy Waterways we approached PortConnect and TMR for extra support. With protective clothing purchased we received generous support from our owners TMR and Port Connect who funded a truck, excavator and skip removal for the Clean-up Day. It was good to have their volunteers there too to see through the clean bill of health DERM and Council have given the area by claiming “oils aint oils”.

I expected sewerage and fluorocarbons, but was less than excited to have oil slicks as well. We need to look at the big picture here – Brisbane’s industrial areas (along its major river) are being deliberately polluted - big time!

A positive outcome has already transpired with owners TMR bringing representatives from DERM and Council to an onsite meeting on 6 March 2012 to discuss "future rehabilitation options".

We are also planting out a large 2000sq m forested zone adjacent to the mangroves on Friday 23rd March with volunteers from Suncorp.