Reef And Rivers Podcast: Recent Episodes
Greg Vinall, Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership
Healthy waterways underpin the vibrant lifestyle, economy and environment of the Wet Tropics Region in Far North Queensland. They also underpin the health and well-being of Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef. Every Friday Greg Vinall talks to people across the Wet Tropics who are passionately striving to improve the health of these vital ecosystems. From managers to landholders, industry to researchers, the stories he reveals are inspirational to anyone who appreciates and values the unique lifestyle of the Wet Tropics.
Dr Matt Curnock is a senior research scientist at CSIRO in Townsville. His work in social and environmental science is focused on understanding how people perceive, value and interact with the Great Barrier Reef.
Given that 'managing the environment is actually about managing people', social science offers insights into reef programs and policies.
Travis Sydes managing natural resources in Far North Queensland as part of FNQROC, which represents 10 local governments across the region.
In this podcast he talks about biosecurity issues in the Wet Tropics with a particular focus on Amazon frogbit, an aquarium plant that is infesting local waterways.
Geoff McClure is one of hundreds of conservation volunteers who have helped transform Cattana Wetlands in the north of Cairns into an environmental park. In this podcast he talks about his love of conservation and the work that has gone into restoring the biodiversity hotspot at Cattana.
Zoologist Dr Barbara Wueringer talks about her work with the fascinating sawfish her research of and how trawling through old newspaper clippings from the Gold Rush era helped to understand more about its historic distribution before gill nets and trophy fishing decimated it's populations.
Fisheries ecologist Matt Moore from Catchment Solutions talks about why fish habitat connectivity within waterways is so important and how decisions made to fix fish barriers such as weirs and dams.
Sam Bastounas is the CEO of Pacific Bio, an Australian company that develops green technology to address water quality and food security issues.
In this podcast, Sam discusses the challenge of purifying water and the development of RegenAqua, a new technology developed with JCU that uses seaweed to strip nutrients from water before it enters waterways.
Heidi Tait is the founder and Managing Director of Tangaroa Blue, a not for profit organisation focused on removing and preventing marine debris. In this podcast, Heidi talks about the problem of litter in our oceans and the importance of going beyond beach clean ups to tackle debris at its source.
This is the 9th annual Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card to be released by Wet Tropics Waterways to assess the health and condition of freshwater basins, estuaries, inshore and offshore areas of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland.
Independent Chair Phil Laycock explains some of the key findings in 2024.
Micro invertebrates are tiny creatures that are invisible to the naked eye but form the basis of the food web in our waterways. Dr. Robert Walsh talks about the importance and diversity of microfauna for sustaining aquatic systems and reveals that their eggs can remain viable for up to 400-500 years, meaning that extinct species could come alive again if water is added!
Australia loves its prawns so much that Queensland's aquaculture industry produces more than $200M of produce of each year, but is it sustainable? Kim Hooper, Executive Officer of the Australian Prawn Farmers Association, talks about the industry, how it works and how it minimises its impact on local waterways.
Millions of tourists come to north Queensland each year to experience the natural wonder of the Great Barrier Reef. This influx of people from around the world represents an opportunity to educate and inform people about the complexity of the reef system and the threats that it faces.
In this week’s Reef & Rivers podcast, Gareth Phillips, CEO of the Australian Marine Park Tourism Operators, talks about the link between science and reef tourism and how tourism can support conservation.
Seagrass meadows play a critically important role in the reef ecosystem. They are nursery habitat for fish and prawns, they stabilise sediment and protect coastlines from erosion, they suck up and filter nutrients coming down from rivers into the reef lagoon, they absorb carbon and also help buffer the reef from pathogens and diseases. Associate Professor at JCU Mike Rasheed shares some of his knowledge about seagrass and how researchers are monitoring seagrass meadows in the Wet Tropics.
Paul Doyle, General Manager of Strategy & Port Development for at Ports North also talks about why they monitor seagrass.
The Great Barrier Reef is about the size of Japan or Italy and there are millions of dollars being invested in improving the runoff of water flowing off the land. How do we know if these reef projects are actually working?
Fiona Barron is the coordinator of the Paddock to Reef Program in the Wet Tropics, which tracks progress against targets in Australia's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan.
Professor Mark Kennard discovered the Bloomfield River Cod in the early 90's whilst undertaking fish surveys as a research assistant. It is the only tropical cod in the world that has avoided predators by living in an 11 kms stretch of the Bloomfield River between two waterfalls.
Did you know that seagrass is the only plant in the world that is capable of fruiting and flowering underwater? This is just one of many fascinating facts shared by Dr. Samantha Tol in this week’s Reef & Rivers podcast. Samantha is a researcher at JCU and well known in the marine science world for her research into dugong and sea turtle poo. Her findings confirmed that dugongs and turtles are like the cassowaries of the ocean – by consuming seeds they increase the seeds viability and disperse them over a wider area.
The sugarcane industry is a highly visible part of the Wet Tropics landscape – if you drive between Ingham and the Daintree, you can’t miss it. Employing more than 4000 direct jobs and supporting another 1800, it contributes over $630 million to our local rural economies. However, since the health of the Great Barrier Reef has been in the spotlight, so too has the impact of the sugar industry on water quality.
In this week’s Reef & Rivers podcast, we’re joined by Joe Marano, a proud sugarcane farmer and passionate advocate for the industry. He talks us through the experiences of farming in a highly sensitive environment under the glare of the scientific and political spotlight.
Nathan Waltham, Senior Principal Researcher at James Cook University, is an expert in coastal landscape ecology and processes.
In this episode of the Reef & Rivers podcast Nathan talks about the importance of different wetland habitats, the pressures from urban development and the future fo restoration work.
This is the 8th annual Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card to be released by Wet Tropics Waterways to assess the health and condition of freshwater basins, estuaries, inshore and offshore areas of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland.
Independent Chair Dr Greg Vinall explains some of the key findings in 2023.
If you’ve visited the Cairns Aquarium you’ll know that biodiversity and conservation education are a driving force behind their business model. In fact, raising awareness about the biodiversity in our world heritage-listed reef and rainforest underpins their entire philosophy.
With over 100,000 visitors annually, the Aquarium is in a unique position to educate and influence. Christine Jorgensen is a senior wildlife educator at the Aquarium and joins us to talk about the role that the aquarium has to play in conservation in the Wet Tropics and beyond.
The Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project was an ambitious 4-year social change and reef water quality project, and has been described as a blueprint to accelerating progress towards achieving reef water quality targets.
The project had unprecedented engagement from the agricultural sector and resulted in 23,966 of hectares of land under confirmed practice change, and saved an estimated 73 tonnes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen from flowing to the reef.
Fiona George was the project lead and re-joins us to talk about the project’s achievements, it’s point of difference, and the legacy it left behind.
Despite its name, the Johnstone River snapping turtle is no snappier than any other freshwater turtle – and is perhaps better known by its alias, the ‘bum breather’. According to turtle expert Alistair Freeman, this ability for cloacal respiration is thought to enable bum breathers to stay under water for prolonged periods to avoid predation, although this is still only theory.
Robust and adaptable, the Johnstone River snapping turtle is an important contributor to keeping its freshwater ecosystem healthy, thanks to its enthusiastic consumption of detritus and dead things! When it’s not hoovering up these tasty morsels, it enjoys hanging out in areas of river with deep pools and riffles, and healthy riparian vegetation.
Alistair is a Senior Technical Officer for the Queensland Government’s Aquatic Species Program and joins us to share his expertise and insights into the quirky Johnstone River snapping turtle.
Mangroves and saltmarsh are important coastal ecosystems that help purify water, buffer coastal communities from extreme weather and provide fish nurseries for our recreational and commercial fishing industries. They’re also among the most efficient ecosystems in the world at sequestering and storing carbon – but are under threat from climate change as well as local pressures such as urban development, rubbish, pollution and weeds.
Alex Sinchak leads the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre’s MangroveWatch program, which harnesses the power of citizen science to protect and preserve mangrove and saltmarsh habitats.
Join us as Alex shares some very cool mangrove facts and outlines how the program has gone from strength to strength in expanding its monitoring program thanks to monitoring contributions from more than 400 volunteers.
They might look pretty – or at least, pretty harmless, but Australia’s ornamental fish trade can pose a serious threat to our waterways. Once an invasive is established, it makes eradication almost impossible, which means prevention is always better than cure.
In this episode we’re joined by freshwater fish biologist Mariah Millington to find out exactly what impact ornamental fish are having on our native species, as well as what we can do to encourage responsible fish ownership.
Tropical cyclones, though destructive, are part of the natural dynamics of the rainforest and reef. We often see their land-based impacts most vividly, but they also impact coral reefs and seagrass beds.
We catch up with Professor Steve Turton to find out how anthropogenic climate change is changing the frequency, intensity and location of cyclones, and what this means for reef and seagrass beds.
Equal parts fearful and fascinating, bull sharks have a reputation as strong, aggressive sharks and are one of the most common species that anglers are likely to encounter in the estuaries and inshore marine zone.
Nicolas Lubitz is a Ph.D candidate at James Cook University, and tracks bull sharks to find out where they travel and why. Join us to learn about the unique life cycles of bull sharks, whether they might be exhibiting natal philpatry, and what climate change means for their habitat range.
When we think about waterway pollution, things like paracetamol and caffeine probably aren’t the first things that come to mind – but they’re among the alarmingly long list of pharmaceuticals and consumables that are literally passing through our bodies and into waterways.
Ecotoxicologist Dr Frederic Leusch joins us to talk about what’s turning up, where it’s turning up, and what it means for aquatic critters.
The 2022 Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card was released today. A lot of complex science goes on behind the report, and it can get a bit heavy, so we asked our Independent Chair Dr Greg Vinall to break it down.
Join us, to learn about the good news stories and the areas in which we could be doing better; what’s impacting waterway health grades and what’s being done to mitigate threats; and how we’re increasing our ability to analyse the health of our waterways.
The science is in, and the results are out.
The 2021 Report Card grades the condition of the freshwater basins, estuaries and marine environments across the Wet Tropics as an action of the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan.
Join our Chair and Exec Officer to hear an overview of the results.
Ports North is responsible for the development and management of the Ports of Cairns, Cape Flattery, Karumba, Mourilyan, Skardon River, Quintell Beach, Thursday Island, Burketown and Cooktown.
Manager of Sustainability and External Policy, Paul Doyle, joins the podcast to talk about Ports North’s operations in the Wet Tropics, the Cairns shipping dredging project, and recent work on their environmental sustainability strategy.
Bill Dennison and Simon Costanza from the University of Maryland talk about the history and evolution of environmental report cards as a process for galvanising communities to improve environmental conditions.
Water quality monitoring can be done on lots of different scales. Great Barrier Reef monitoring is done on a catchment scale with the results reflecting what's happening over a very large area. While this is useful to give a big picture perspective on the reef it is less relevant to farmers and doesn't give them any information about what changes they need to be making on their particular paddocks. The Major Integrated Project is unique in that it provides local scale monitoring to farmers and then supports them to make changes.
Over 90% of Australia's bananas are grown in the Wet Tropics but with increasing pressure on our agricultural sectors to become more environmentally sustainable, the banana industry is making changes to improve the quality of water flowing off banana farms into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Michelle McKinlay, Industry Manager for the Australian Banana Growers Council, talks about what banana farmers are doing to become more environmentally sustainable.
In July 2019 the fourth Wet Tropics Waterway Health report card was launched, highlighting the condition of the basins, estuaries and marine zones from the Daintree in the north to Hinchinbrook in the south.
Wet Tropics Waterways chair Steve Turton describes the results of the report card program, discussing changes since the 2018 report card and the ongoing development of waterway health indicators.
Climate change forecasts indicate that the Wet Tropics can look forward to more rainfall, more severe cyclones and warmer temperatures, according to Professor Steve Turton.
This will have implications for the reef, mangrove and seagrass ecosystems in the region, as well as the freshwater systems that drain our basins.
But while there are some concerns, there is still plenty of hope and even a few positive outcomes from the climate change story.
Bioreactors show a lot of promise for denitifying and "polishing" groundwater before it is expressed into waterways or direct to the Great Barrier Reef via wonky holes (undersea springs).
Whilst they won't negate the need to better manage our nitrogen loads to surface and ground waters, the ability to intercept and remove nitrogen could play an important role in reducing our overall impacts. In future they may even be a useful money earner for landholders wanting to explore the proposed Reef Credits scheme.
Fiona Barron is the Wet Tropics Coordinator of the Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting program (P2R), a world leading scientific program funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments that links on-ground practice changes by farmers to measureable improvements in water quality flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.
P2R provides information on how well Australia is progressing towards it Reef 2050 targets. It helps us assess how well our water quality projects are working and also helps us plan and prioritise future projects and services.
Agro-Ecologist David Hardwick has been working in the farming and food industry for over 20 years. As an expert on soils, agronomy and organics he has been working with many farmers throughout the Wet Tropics to build knowledge and skills about soil as a farm business asset.
Besides being important for farm productivity, good soil health also has important benefits for waterway health. In this episode, David explains the connection between soil and water and what programs are taking place across the region to improve soil health in the Wet Tropics.
Tangaroa Blue is a not for profit organisation involved in the cleanup and cataloguing of plastic debris from our coastlines, as well as educational campaigns regarding plastic waste management and minimisation.
In this episode Tangaroa Blue Managing Director Heidi Taylor describes the scale of the problem, the impacts on our environment and the activities undertaken by her organisation to address the issues.
Central to the strategy is Heidi's philosophy of recording the waste collected and where possible identifying the sources so that we can better target our management strategies to the sources.
The introduction and spread of noxious aquatic fauna and flora can be particularly damaging to the health of our waterways. Once introduced, these invasive species often can't be eradicated, even controlling their spread and proliferation can be expensive and extremely challenging.
The damage that alien (exotic) species can do to our delicate ecosystems varies depending on the species of concern and on the ecosystems into which they are introduced. Some can colonise in low numbers and coexist with minimal impact. Others can out-compete native species for habitat, food and resources, permanently altering the ecosystem for the worse.
In this Episode we talk to Dr Bonnie Holmes, Senior Biosecurity Officer with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Bonnie is a pest fish expert and explains the level to which alien species currently impact on Wet Tropics Waterways. We also talk about what managers and the public can do to reduce the spread of alien species - and a handful of pest fish that DAF are working to prevent gaining a foothold in our waterways.
Woodleigh Station is a working beef cattle business that embraced sustainable landuse and grazing best practice. Management of stocking levels, extensive fencing and provision of of stream watering points are strategies adopted by the station to ensure long-term sustainability.
In this episode Greg talks to landholder Kate Wardell about their strategies and the implications for their business. In particular, the discussion turns to a project to stabilise a major erosion system on the station, with the construction of a fishway, bunding and reconfiguration of a dam wall, works undertaken under Terrain NRM's Upper Herbert River Sediment Reduction Project.
The Atherton Tablelands contains the headwaters for a number of significant Wet Tropics river systems, including the Herbert, Johnstone and Barron rivers.
The tablelands has a growing urban and rural population and boasts extensive agriculture including cane, bananas, numerous other fruit and vegetable cropping businesses and grazing properties. The region also attracts a growing number of tourists each year.
In this Episode, Tablelands Regional Council (TRC) mayor Joe Paronella explains the work that council does to balance the social and economic interests of the region with the environmental outcomes expected of a "Reef Guardians" council.
Cairns Recreational Fishing Industry Stakeholders (CAREFISH) is the peak body representing the recreational fishing industry in the WEet Tropics region and is a partner of Wet Tropics Waterways.
In this episode CAREFISH founder and spokesman Paul Aubin talks about his results in lobbying for more sustainable recreational and commercial fishing in the region.
The group successfully lobbied the Queensland Government for the implementation of a "Net Free Zone" in Trinity Inlet and the surrounding area in an effort to protect important breeding habitat for barramundi and other species. There is strong anecdotal evidence of the numbers and size of fish in the inlet has increased dramatically as a result.
Flooding in the Mossman Catchment during March 2018 resulted in substantial damage to river banks. Growers lost land and the river system and inshore reef areas were subjected to heavy sediment loads. Stretches of stream bank with vegetative cover or previous rock stabilisation remained stable throughout the floods and sustained minimal damage.
These observations led to the development of the Mossman Integrated Catchment Repair project, which aims to stabilise streambanks within the Mossman Basin. The project focuses on the Cassowary and Saltwater sub-catchments, which were selected for the potential to repair their entire reaches.
Vanessa Drysdale from Terrain NRM joins us on the Reef and Rivers Podcast to explain the project and it's goals in more detail.
The Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre is a Queensland Education Department facility nestled between the mangrove-lined banks of Thomatis Creek and the beautiful Holloways Beach, a few kilometres north of Cairns.
Around 3000 primary and secondary school students from the Wet Tropics and Cape York regions attend programs and camps at the centre each year. Activities include waterway health monitoring, ecological studies and leadership programs.
Jen Mackenzie is affectionately referred to around the wet tropics as "Dirt Girl" or "Gully Jen" for her passion and successes in sediment and erosion management. Jen is the Sediment Reduction Program Leader with Terrain NRM.
Jen talks us through the existing Herbert River Sediment Reduction Program and the New Upper Johnston Sediment Reduction Program.
These programs involve whole of property plans on grazing properties to simultaneously enhance the health and productivity of pastures and reduce the potential for sediment transport through sheet erosion. Remedial engineering works are also undertaken at priority sites to remedy gully and streambank erosion.
The Cairns Airport is nestled behind an extensive mangrove wetland to the south and bordered by the Barron River and Redden Island to the north. This system is home to multiple species of mangroves and provides habitat for many animals from crabs to fish and even some endangered bird species.
Cairns Airport is among the busiest in the country and is the gateway for domestic and international tourists who visit the area largely to experience the Great Barrier Reef and World Heritage Rainforest. The airport takes environmental management seriously, as Environmental Manager Lucy Friend explains in this episode.
Cairns Airport has recently upgraded it's environmental management system EMS), undertaken cleanups of the mangrove areas and is hosting a mangrove walk on World Wetland Day, 2 Feb 2019.
The Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) is a natural predator of coral on the Great Barrier Reef and is thought to have been present in low numbers for thousands of years. As a result of human induced influxes such as nutrient loading and fishing pressure COTS "blooms" have become a threat to coral health.
The Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators (AMPTO) have run a COTS management program on reefs of key tourism and/or conservation value for over two decades. The program has demonstrated that COTS control is a useful tool for localised COTS management.
A side benefit of the COTS program has been the creation of training and employment opportunities for youths in the Wet Tropics Region, with participants enjoying an 85% employment rate on completion of the program.
In Episode 4 Greg talks to Rod Marti from Barron Catchment Care about the influence of urbanisation on waterway health and the initiatives being implemented in the Upper Barron area to reduce sediment loads from urban areas.
Rod explains how farmers in this area are often blamed for issues that originated in the urban areas upstream of their land and highlights the need for urban and rural communities to work together.
Rod also explains Barron Catchment Care's plan to promote implementation of Best Management Practice (BMP) for mixed cropping farms and support landholder adoption.
Greg talks to Bess about the importance of mangroves to our waterways and reef and what Magrove Watch does to monitor the health of mangrove communities.
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Episode Description In Episode 2 of "Reef and Rivers" Greg Vinall chats with the Independent Chairman of the Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership, Professor Steve Turton about the 2018 results and what they're telling us.
The 2018 Wet Tropics Report Card draws on data collected during the monitoring period from July 2016 to June 2017. This is the third consecutive data collection period that coincided with below average rainfall across the region and Greg and Steve talk about how this affects the Report Card scores for 2018 and how it bodes for the future of waterway health in the region.
Podcast Timestamps 01:00 What the Wet Tropics Report Card is, and why it's important.
02:50 How the Report Card will be used
05:45 The results for 2018
06:35 Marine indicators and results
08:30 The connection between land-use and crown of thorns starfish
09:35 The reason marine inshore scores are low in 2018
11:55 Expectations for the 2019 Wet Tropics Report Card
12:55 Effect of the 2018 major rainfall event on waterway health
15:05 On-ground actions in the region and the impact on waterway health
17:05 How to get involved with the Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership
17:45 How to get a Report Card or get in touch with us
Download This Episode
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Episode Description The "Reef and Rivers" podcast series brings inspiring stories of Waterway Health management from one of the most vibrant regions in the Great Barrier Reef catchment - the Wet Tropics.
The unique lifestyle, values and opportunities enjoyed by the Wet Tropics community depend heavily on the health of our waterways, from headwater creeks, to our nine river systems, eight estuaries and of course, the Great Barrier Reef.
Brought to you each week by the Wet Tropics Healthy Waterways Partnership, "Reef and Rivers" takes a look at the people, the organisations and the projects that are making a difference when it comes to protecting the environmental and social values of the Wet Tropics Region.