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The paper 'Biodiversity values of remnant freshwater floodplain lagoons in agricultural catchments: evidence for fish of the Wet Tropics bioregion, northern Australia', published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems in 2015, has contributed in several ways to the integration of freshwater wetland science within new catchment management policies and practices for Great Barrier Reef (GBR) sustainability.The Tully–Murray biodiversity study developed novel protocols to sample larval, juvenile, and adult fish life‐history stages in floodplain lagoons using a combination of boat‐based backpack electrofishing and fyke netting. In addition, hydrological and hydrodynamic models were applied in a completely new way to quantify the timing, extent, and duration of water connectivity across floodplain streams, cane drains, and wetlands. Combining the two novel approaches enabled an analysis of lagoon fish assemblage patterns in relation to environmental gradients, especially floodplain hydrology, connectivity patterns, and measures related to agricultural land use.In demonstrating the importance of different levels of connectivity for different biodiversity outcomes in freshwater floodplain lagoons of the Tully–Murray catchment, the subject paper established that floodplain connectivity needs to be taken into consideration in wetland management practices.The timing of the subject publication was fortuitous. It coincided with the preparation of the evidence‐based 2017 Scientific Consensus Statement on land‐based water quality impacts on the GBR. As one of the few freshwater wetland ecology publications for the catchments of the GBR at that time, this paper played an important role in demonstrating freshwater wetland values, fish conservation options, and management imperatives to sustain wetland ecological health and services in GBR catchments.By advancing the understanding of factors driving biodiversity patterns, and the importance of connectivity and ecohydrological processes in freshwater floodplain wetlands of the GBR catchment, the Tully–Murray study helped to drive new policy directives for the protection and restoration of catchment, floodplain, and estuary functions, and connectivity, now embedded in the Reef 2050 Long‐Term Sustainability Plan 2018, an overarching strategy for managing the GBR over the next 35 years, and complementary Queensland environmental legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes using an adaptive management approach to achieve water quality improvement in large catchments with multiple diffuse pollutant issues. Adaptive management involves attention to process, and commitment to continually improving knowledge and practice. It also requires an appreciation of differences in understanding of various stakeholders and an ongoing commitment to learning. Based on research with the Burdekin Dry Tropics regional Natural Resource Management group, the paper shows how the acquisition of knowledge about Water Quality Management can be an aim in itself, rather than an activity peripheral to the planning process. To this end, the paper describes the methods used to elicit stakeholders’ understandings, explores the variation in understandings between key stakeholders, and describes a process used to incorporate the various views in an adaptive management framework for managing water quality. The research findings reveal the importance of process and participation for adaptive management and suggest that success can be judged in terms of learning outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The focus of this paper is to compare different evaluation frameworks for selecting landholder proposals to improve water quality. The case study is a water quality tender performed in the Burdekin region in Northern Australia in 2007/2008 where bids could be assessed using an inputs-based best management practice scorecard or an outputs-based auction metric. The scorecard approach and other variants of multi-criteria analysis are commonly applied in grant schemes, where landholder proposals are rated by a range of inputs-based criteria. Output-based approaches are typically applied in water quality and conservation tenders, where an environmental benefits index is constructed to summarise the environmental improvements generated by each proposal. These then allow projects to be selected on the basis of cost effectiveness. The case study evaluation reported in this paper demonstrates that the input focus of multi-criteria analysis type assessments are flawed, and that the efficiency of public funding can be more than doubled using auction metrics to assess proposals for landholders to improve water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prerequisite for meaningful environmental legislation is that it he based upon an adequate scientific understanding of the natural system to which It is applied. In 2003, the Australian Commonwealth and Queensland State governments introduced a Reef Water Quality Protection Plan. which aimed to "improve" water quality in river catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GRR) and in nearby coastal waters. The Plan was introduced in the absence of any substantive evidence for regional degradation of GRR water quality. This paper reviews the available data regarding nutrient contents En the Tully River, north Queensland, which is cited as the best (available) evidence for human-related changes in nutrient export from (GBR) catchment [1]. It is shown that the claim of human-related nutrient enrichment in the Tully River, and regionally, is without substance. No detectable trends in GBR water quality have occurred since systematic measurements were first started in the 1980s. Environmental policies that are based on mischievous claims of chimerical damage to the Great Barrier Reef damage the reputation of science as a tool for disinterested analysis, and provoke widespread cynicism in the community regarding the integrity of contemporary environmental politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC Guidelines) provide default national guideline values for a wide range of indicators of relevance to the protection of the ecological condition of natural waters. However, the ANZECC Guidelines also place a strong emphasis on the need to develop more locally relevant guidelines. Using a structured framework, this paper explores indicators and regional data sets that can be used to develop more locally relevant guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). The paper focuses on the water quality impacts of adjacent catchments on the GBRWHA with the key stressors addressed being nutrients, sediments and agricultural chemicals. Indicators relevant to these stressors are discussed including both physico-chemical pressure indicators and biological condition indicators. Where adequate data sets are available, guideline values are proposed. Generally, data were much more readily available for physico-chemical pressure indicators than for biological condition indicators. Specifically, guideline values are proposed for the major nutrients nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and for chlorophyll-a. More limited guidelines are proposed for sediment related indicators. For most agricultural chemicals, the ANZECC Guidelines are likely to remain the default of choice for some time but it is noted that there is data in the literature that could be used to develop more locally relevant guidelines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Adaptive management is the pathway to effective conservation, use and management of Australia’s coastal catchments and waterways. While the concepts of adaptive management are not new, applications involving both assessment and management responses are indeed limited at the national and regional scales. This paper outlines the components of a systematic framework for linking scientific knowledge, existing tools, planning approaches and participatory processes to achieve healthy regional partnerships between community, industry, government agencies and science providers to overcome institutional barriers and uncoordinated monitoring. The framework developed by the Coastal CRC (www.coastal.crc.org.au/amf/amf_index.htm) is hierarchical in the way it displays information to allow associated frameworks to be integrated, and represents a construct in which processes, information, decision tools and outcomes are brought together in a structured and transparent way for adaptive catchment and coastal management. This paper proposes how an adaptive management approach could be used to benefit the implementation of the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan (RWQPP). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reducing nutrient runoff from sugarcane production into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has become a major policy focus for the Queensland and Australian Governments. This study explores consumer willingness to pay (WTP) to achieve higher environmental standards for sugar originating from the GBR catchments, through the use of a GBR‐safe ecolabel. A Best‐Worst Scaling (BWS) and a Contingent Valuation (CV) experiment are conducted on a random sample of 1,100 Australian residents. The BWS experiment reveals that personal health considerations are more important than sustainability and environmental factors, including impacts on the GBR. Results of the CV experiment show that respondents are more likely to pay a premium to support Reef‐friendly sugar if they are living in urban areas, plan to visit the GBR in the future, think that the GBR condition has declined, and are generally concerned about keeping a healthy diet. We estimate that the average WTP is $24.5/year/household, which only represents 0.34 per cent of the average weekly grocery bill of Australian households. This small contribution through increased sugar prices could conservatively raise $46.9M/year in support of sugar producers to improve water quality in the GBR. Based on these results, we recommend policy‐makers consider instruments that further involve sugar consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The focus of the research reported in this paper has been to estimate recreation values for beaches over approximately 1,400 km (km) of coastline along the Queensland coast. The study is notable at an international level because it assesses recreation values to a general type of recreation asset rather than to a specific site, and because it focuses on the values of the local resident population. Negative binomial models have been used to estimate both the visit rate and recreation values associated with beach visits in different regional areas. The value of a single beach visit was estimated per person at $35.09, which extrapolates to $587.3 million in beach recreation values per annum. These values are likely to be conservative because opportunity costs incurred to live closer to the beach (e.g. housing premiums) have not been assessed. Contingent behaviour models were used to estimate the values of potential declines in water quality, with marginal effects assessed at $1.30 per recreation trip to avoid each 1% decline in water quality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The use of landholder typologies to assist in the development of natural resource management (NRM) policies and agricultural extension programs has increased considerably in the past decade. In this paper we explore the potential of developing a typology of graziers to more effectively tailor policies and programs with the aim of improving land management outcomes. This is of particular importance since growing public concern about the environmental performance of the beef industry has led to increasing pressures on graziers to change their land management practices to decrease off-property impacts. To gain a better understanding of graziers’ land management practices and the factors that inform their decisions on how they manage their land we first developed a conceptual model of the relationship between grazier and grazing land where both can, ideally, thrive through conscious and timely land management decisions made and implemented by the grazier. A successful grazier land relationship is likely to be consistent with value systems and social and economic factors, although the particulars of any individual approach may vary spatially and temporally. These factors, in particular graziers’ values and motivations to follow a particular management strategy, guided the development of our typology of graziers. Australia''s Bowen-Broken basin, which has been identified as a major contributor of sediment and nutrients that enter the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, served as a case study for this research. Three broad types of graziers emerged: (1) traditionalists, (2) diversifiers, and (3) innovators. The authors argue that by understanding graziers’ values and motivations underlying each of the grazier types, government agencies and NRM organisations can more effectively tailor their policy and extension programs towards specific types of graziers and can work with specific groups to achieve reductions in sediment and nutrient runoff from grazing properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: This paper presents a tool for documenting and monitoring water use benefits in the Great Barrier Reef catchments that allows temporal and spatial comparison along the region. Water, water use benefits and water allocations are currently receiving much attention from Australian policy makers and conservation practitioners. Because of the inherent complexity and variability in water quality, it is essential that scientific information is presented in a meaningful way to policy makers, managers and ultimately, to the general public who have to live with the consequences of the decisions. We developed an inexpensively populated and easily understandable water use benefit index as a tool for community-based monitoring of water related trends in the Great Barrier Reef region. The index is developed based on a comparative list of selected water-related indices integrating attributes across physico-chemical, economic, social, and ecological domains currently used in the assessment of water quality, water quantity and water use benefits in Australia. Our findings indicate that the proposed index allows the identification of water performance indicators by temporal and spatial comparisons. Benefits for decision makers and conservation practitioners include a flexible way of prioritization towards the domain with highest concern. The broader community benefits from a comprehensive and user-friendly tool, communicating changes in water quality trends more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New regionalism encompasses a diversity of approaches to address regional planning problems. Within Australia, the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Protection Plan was developed to enhance water quality within the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, and the plan gave responsibility to regional, natural resource management bodies to undertake several actions. This paper evaluates these initiatives in the light of the emerging theory of new regionalism and highlights six main lessons: up-scaling of the catchment approach to a reef-wide approach is essential in order to improve water quality, but must be complemented by cross-regional collaboration; new governance and institutional arrangements and strengthened partnerships must be effectively integrated; culture and history are important in determining the most effective management approaches; pilot projects must move to comprehensive and strategic implementation; science is important but needs to incorporate other branches of knowledge; and economic incentives are important in encouraging the implementation of best practices, but delivery needs to be flexible. We conclude that the new regional approach is appropriate for addressing complex, multi-scale problems such as water quality, and has incorporated several key principles of new regionalism, but that the process must move quickly to a higher level of commitment and application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents a multi-criteria based tool for assessing the relative impact of diffuse-source pollution to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from the river basins draining into the GBR lagoon. The assessment integrates biophysical and ecological data of water quality and pollutant concentrations with socio-economic information pertaining to non-point source pollution and (potential) pollutant impact. The tool generates scores for each river basin against four criteria, thus profiling the basins and enabling prioritization of management alternatives between and within basins. The results support policy development for pollution control through community participation, scientific data integration and expert knowledge contributed by people from across the catchment. The results specifically provided support for the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, released in October 2003. The aim of the plan is to provide a framework for reducing discharge of sediment, nutrient and other diffuse-source loads and (potential) impact of that discharge and for prioritising management actions both between and within river basins. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Reef 2050 Plan has identified a range of measures aimed at reducing end-of-catchment loads of sediment and nutrient and recognizes the role that freshwater wetlands may have in achieving this. However, quantitative information on the potential for tropical wetlands to filter agricultural runoff is scarce, so this paper describes a study that combines field data from a 10 ha wetland constructed on land previously used for sugar cane near Babinda, north Queensland with a water balance and denitrification model. During the 12-month monitoring period (from October 2017 to September 2018) we estimate that the nitrogen filtering capacity of the wetland was 52% (26% lost as gaseous denitrification from the water and soil, and 26% as sedimentation of particulate nitrogen, PN). The remaining nitrogen (48%) left in the drainage water and this emphasises the importance of the wetland hydrology in determining denitrification and filtering. The current estimates are highly variable, so we have also identified the key parameters that need to be measured in order to improve long-term wetland filtering capacity estimation. Babinda is in the Mulgrave-Russell catchment, where the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan has set target reductions in DIN of 300 t and PN of 53 t by 2025. 10% of the DIN reduction target could be achieved from ~593 ha of wetland with the same mean denitrification properties as currently estimated for the Babinda wetland (i.e. 51 kg N ha−1 year−1). This amounts to 2.3% of the total sugarcane area in this catchment that, as wetland, would also remove 56% of the 2025 PN reduction target. • Combined water balance and denitrification modelling of a tropical wetland • Estimation of total nitrogen filtering in a constructed wetland • Clear demonstration of the importance of hydrology in wetland filtering • Identification of key parameters affecting wetland filtering • Potential contribution of wetlands to Reef water quality improvement targets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To protect and improve water quality in the Great Barrier Reef, the Queensland Government's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets that 90% of sugarcane, horticulture, cropping and grazing lands in priority areas be managed using best management practices for sediment, nutrient and pesticides by 2025. Progress towards this target is insufficient and variable across catchments and industries. The motivation to adopt improvements in management practices is heavily influenced by social, economic, cultural and institutional dimensions. In this paper we synthesise the literature on how these human dimensions influence decision making for land management practice and highlight where future investment could be focussed. We highlight that focussing on —1) investigating systems to support landholder decision making under climate uncertainty (risk); 2) generating a better understanding of the extent and drivers of landholder transaction cost; 3) understanding if there are competing 'right' ways to farm; and 4) improving understanding of the social processes, trust and power dynamics within GBR industries and what these means for practice change— could improve practice change uptake in the future. • Understanding human factors is essential for land practice change • Human factors include economic, social and cultural and macro institutional elements • These will affect trialling, adoption and dis-adoption of a practice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian and Queensland Government's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan has set targets for improving the water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Given the large public investment and the deficit of data linking on-farm land management to changes in environmental outcomes, there is a need for a robust and efficient methods of quantifying links between land management and water quality. This paper explores a pragmatic approach to making this link using available data. We demonstrate that a simple parameterisation process is suitable for estimating hydrology and water quality across a wide range of land uses and management practices in agricultural landscapes. However, a manually calibrated model may still require the analysis of parameters to reduce error variances and evaluate uncertainties. Confidence in estimating hydrology and water quality in descending order is: runoff, sediment, nitrogen, phosphorous, and pesticide losses, reflecting the availability of data and inherent error propagation. • A pragmatic modelling by Howleaky is suitable to link management to water quality. • A manually calibrated model may still require a reduction in error variances. • Data availability and inherent error propagation determined confidence in modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shallow tidal and freshwater coastal wetlands adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon provide a vital nursery and feeding complex that supports the life cycles of marine and freshwater fish, important native vegetation and vital bird habitat. Urban and agricultural development threaten these wetlands, with many of the coastal wetlands becoming lost or changed due to the construction of artificial barriers (e.g. bunds, roads, culverts and floodgates). Infestation by weeds has become a major issue within many of the wetlands modified (bunded) for ponded pasture growth last century. A range of expensive chemical and mechanical control methods have been used in an attempt to restore some of these coastal wetlands, with limited success. This study describes an alternative approach to those methods, investigating the impact of tidal reinstatement after bund removal on weed infestation, associated changes in water quality, and fish biodiversity, in the Boolgooroo lagoon region of the Mungalla wetlands, East of Ingham in North Queensland. High resolution remote sensing, electrofishing and in-water logging was used to track changes over time– 1 year before and 4 years after removal of an earth bund. With tides only penetrating the wetland a few times yearly, gross changes towards a more natural system occurred within a relatively short timeframe, leading to a major reduction in infestation of olive hymenachne, water hyacinth and salvina, reappearance of native vegetation, improvements in water quality, and a tripling of fish diversity. Weed abundance and water quality does appear to oscillate however, dependent on summer rainfall, as changes in hydraulic pressure stops or allows tidal ingress (fresh/saline cycling). With an estimated 30% of coastal wetlands bunded in the Great Barrier Reef region, a passive remediation method such as reintroduction of tidal flow by removal of an earth bund or levee could provide a more cost effective and sustainable means of controlling freshwater weeds and improving coastal water quality into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical water quality datasets from the Fitzroy Basin, a large river system that receives mine-affected water from more than 40 mines, and drains into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon, were analysed. There is great public and environmental interest in these waters that are used for agriculture, recreation and raw drinking water supplies. Aside from one AMD-impacted area, waters were generally alkaline. Turbidity data regularly exceeded the regional water quality objective (< 50 NTU), indicating the presence of particulates that may accumulate or transport metal contaminants within the waters. Analyses of data for 14 metals showed dissolved Cu and Al, followed by Zn, were the parameters that were most often greater than Australian toxicant guideline values. Analysis of coal mine-affected water samples and the receiving creek data, showed that median turbidity was greater downstream than upstream of the mine water release points, suggesting release-water may contain particulate-bound metals. Median dissolved Al and Cu concentrations were lower downstream than upstream and were above guidelines. Preliminary modelling using WHAM7 suggested downstream dissolved Cu (2–5 µg/L) was bound to fulvic acid and was likely not bioavailable. Dissolved Al (170–550 µg/L) may have existed as Al(OH)4−. Overall, suspended particulate matter appeared to be a water quality parameter of interest in this mine-affected river basin. Further targeted sampling, direct measurement of particulate-bound metals and multivariate statistical analysis are needed to help better understand metal partitioning in these turbid, alkaline waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coral communities were monitored at Pandora Reef, nearshore Great Barrier Reef from 1981 to 2005 using photography and videography. In the 1980s, regional elevation of land-based nutrients in coastal waters (ca. 2-6 times pre-European levels of early 1800s) did not prevent overall recovery of coral cover and diversity following a sequence of environmental disturbances in the 1970s. However, prospects for a repeat of such resilience following catastrophic mortality from high-temperature bleaching in 1998 and a cyclone in 2000 are not clear. Different coral communities around the reef varied greatly in relation to impacts and recovery. Fore-reef communities dominated by acroporids (fast growing branching and tabular Acropora and foliose Montipora) recovered strongly in the 1980s following apparently severe impacts by cyclone, food and heat wave disturbances in the 1970s, attaining 60-90% cover by stabilizing rubble and outgrowing macro-algae in <10 years. In the back-reef, by contrast, poritid-dominated communities (massive and finger Porites and columnar Goniopora and Alveopora) had more stable trajectories and smaller impact from recent disturbances: recovery was well underway in 2005. The contrasting trajectories of different parts of the reef reflect differential survival of more persistent versus more ephemeral taxa, notably poritids and acroporids, respectively, both major contributors to framework and cover on reefs globally. A repeat of earlier resilience appears possible in the shallow fore-reef, but unlikely in the deeper fore-reef, which had few viable fragments or recruits in 2005. The main limits on recovery may be (1) reduced supply of coral larvae due to widespread regional losses of coral brood stock and (2) the reduced intervals between disturbances associated with global climate change. The presence of a high abundance of Acroporidae is a major pre-disposing risk factor for climate change impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wet Tropics region of north Queensland contains the highest biological diversity in Australia, has outstanding environmental values, is economically important and located adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Increasing urban development and agricultural intensification in the Wet Tropics has raised serious water quality concerns. To successfully achieve water quality improvement outcomes, the integration of social and biophysical knowledge, in particular clarifying the roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders for knowledge integration, has been identified as a key issue and research priority. However, research into the processes supporting knowledge integration and clarifying roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders for improving water quality is largely lacking. To fill this gap, we further developed and advanced a social-ecological planning framework to improve our understanding of how multiple-stakeholders can contribute to successful water quality management outcomes. Our conceptual framework, applied in the Tully basin adjacent to the GBR: (1) provides a transdisciplinary approach; (2) enhances the integration of social and biophysical knowledge through tailored methods fitting the local context; (3) shares knowledge and provides recommendations; (4) outlines factors that may promote or inhibit the implementation of freshwater quality objectives; (5) highlights inadequacies of existing government guidelines, policies, and presents co-management opportunities and (6) offers a novel collaborative approach supporting water quality improvement in the Wet Tropics of Australia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]