Estuarine and marine ecosystems
Key Messages
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Queensland’s estuarine and marine ecosystems (wetlands) support much of the state's native biodiversity, including migratory birds, dugongs, dolphins, turtles, and fish. They are found from the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Gold Coast and include such important areas as Moreton Bay, Great Sandy Strait, Hervey Bay and the Great Barrier Reef.
Wetlands are important for our economy. They provide nurseries for fish and help protect people and property from storm surges; they protect downstream habitats by removing sediments and transforming nutrients and pesticides — particularly crucial for the health of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef; wetlands are also great places to enjoy Queensland’s natural wonders.
Many of Queensland’s wetlands are recognised at a national and international level for their role in supporting migratory bird populations. Great Sandy Strait and Moreton, Shoalwater, Corio and Bowling Green bays are included in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance list.
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The extent and distribution of estuarine ecosystems (e.g. mangroves and saltmarsh/salt flat) are the most important indicators of the state of estuarine habitat resources in Queensland as any loss means diminishment of the benefits wetlands offer.
Different estuarine wetland systems provide different values to society.
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The Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s largest and most diverse marine ecosystems with a wide range of habitats and many thousands of different species recorded. Extending more than 2,000km, over 14 degrees of latitude — from shallow estuarine areas to deep oceanic waters — the reef is the only living structure visible from space. Within this vast expanse, a unique range of ecological communities and habitats come together to create one of the most complex natural ecosystems in the world.
Estuarine
State
- Extent and rate of change in estuarine wetlands
More than 96% of the pre-European settlement extent of estuarine wetlands in Queensland remained in 2017. Changes in the extent of estuarine wetlands in Queensland have been monitored since 2001. The highest rate of estuarine wetland loss was recorded during the 2001–2005 period (0.03%) mostly in the North East Coast drainage division.
Of the 2 broad estuarine wetland types — mangroves and salt marsh/salt flats — the greatest ongoing losses have occurred in salt marsh/salt flats in the North East Coast Drainage division.
- Estuarine wetlands within protected areas
Areas of managed protection covering estuarine wetlands in Queensland often overlap. Of Queensland’s estuarine wetlands, 38% are within an area of managed protection. Fish habitat areas protect 29%, highly protected marine park zones cover 11% and protected areas a further 5%. These figures do not include the Great Sandy Marine Park.
- Condition of estuarine ecosystem health
Queensland's estuarine aquatic ecosystems vary significantly in condition. Some are in good to very good condition while others do not meet standards for water quality.
Pressure
- Pressures affecting estuarine ecosystems
Sediment, nutrients and pesticides are the major catchment pressures that broadly impact Queensland estuaries but vary in their relative importance between regions.
Resources
| Healthy Land and Water South East Queensland report card | The Healthy Land and Water South East Queensland Report Card covers 18 major river catchments from the Noosa River Catchment to the New South Wales Border, as well as the marine areas of Pumicestone Passage, Moreton Bay and the Broadwater. The report card is an annual commentary of the state of estuarine, marine and freshwater health with waterway monitoring from about 400 sites across the region. An environmental condition grade is calculated based on 25 indicators for each of the catchments to assess key freshwater and estuarine aspects of the waterways. Indicators are assessed against established guidelines and benchmarks, resulting in the single grade for each catchment. |
| Reef Water Quality Report Card and Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program (Paddock to Reef Program) | The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017–2022 seeks to improve the quality of water flowing from the catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. The plan builds on previous water quality plans by setting separate targets for reducing water pollution from each catchment to enable better prioritisation of actions. The Reef Water Quality Report Card 2017 and 2018 assess the results of Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan’s actions reported up to June 2018. For the first time, the results in the Report Card are reported at a finer catchment and sub-catchment scale. The Paddock to Reef Program provides the framework for evaluating and reporting progress towards the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets and objectives through the report card. Monitoring and modelling of water quality occurs across a range of attributes, from paddock scale through to sub-catchment, catchment, regional and Great Barrier Reef-wide. The Paddock to Reef program evaluates management practice adoption and effectiveness, catchment condition, pollutant run-off and inshore marine condition. |
| Fitzroy Basin Report Card | The Fitzroy Basin Report Card reports on aquatic ecosystem health of freshwater and estuarine condition for the Fitzroy Basin, as well as drinking water results for Rockhampton and Central Highlands. The report card helps inform whether current management strategies are proving successful in maintaining the health of aquatic ecosystems and helps guide and improve planning and investments towards improved aquatic ecosystem health by governments and all partner organisations. |
| Gladstone Harbour Report Card | The Gladstone Harbour Report Card reports on estuarine and marine condition in the harbour based on monitoring of ecological and biological indicators, and also reports on social, economic and cultural indicators. The report card helps enable stakeholders to have confidence in the efforts to maintain and improve the health of the harbour. |
| Mackay–Whitsunday–Isaac Report Card | The Mackay–Whitsunday–Isaac Report Card, reports on the health of the region’s waterways, including the catchments of the Don, Proserpine, Pioneer, O’Connell and Plane basins, 8 estuaries, and the inshore and offshore marine areas to the eastern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef. The report card helps community, industry, science, tourism and government to work together to determine what more can be done to look after our waterways. |
| Wet Tropics Report Card | The Wet Tropics Report Card assesses the health of the major rivers, estuaries, inshore and offshore reefs in the Wet Tropics region. The Daintree, Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell Johnstone, Tully, Murray and Herbert freshwater basins are assessed for water quality, habitat and hydrology, and fish. The report card communicates information on waterway health, enables long term trends to be identified and supports action to improve the health of Wet Tropics waterways. |
| Townsville Dry Tropics Report Card | Released in 2019, the pilot report card provides information on the ecological condition of waterways, and the community and economic benefits provided by waterways. The results on the condition of freshwater basins, estuarine/coastal, inshore marine and offshore marine environments within the Townsville Dry Tropics region are detailed. The results provide scores and grades for indicators, indicator categories, indices, and overall scores for the categories of Water, Biodiversity, Community and Economy within 7 zones. The report card additionally includes a qualitative confidence measure for each score for the indicator categories within Water and Biodiversity. The confidence is based on the accuracy of the data used in the analysis. |
| Wetlandinfo | Wetlandinfo provides detailed information of the state’s wetlands (including lakes, swamps, rivers, estuaries and oceans) based on an innovative mapping and classification methodology. It uses existing information including water body mapping derived from Landsat satellite imagery, regional ecosystem mapping, topographic data, and the Species Recovery Information Gateway (Spring) database to provide consistent, detailed and high resolution wetland mapping for the whole of Queensland. |
Marine
State
- Marine parks and fish habitat areas
About 18%, or 1.893 million hectares, of Queensland’s total marine wetlands are in highly protected marine park zones or declared fish habitat areas.
- Condition of ecological processes in the Great Barrier Reef
The deteriorating condition of many ecological processes has affected the integrity of the Reef’s outstanding universal value. Ecological processes are expected to continue to decline due to climate change impacts and inshore land-based run-off.
- Key fish stocks
The majority of Queensland’s key fish stocks are considered sustainable.
- Recreational fishing catch and participation
Recreational fishing is increasingly popular across the state, with almost 943,000 Queenslanders involved in recreational fishing in 2019, an increase of more than 300,000 since 2013.
- Condition of marine ecosystem health
Queensland’s marine environments vary significantly in condition. Some are in good to very good condition while others do not meet standards for water quality.
Pressure
- Pressures affecting marine ecosystems
Sediment, nutrients, pesticides and litter are the major catchment pressures that broadly impact Queensland’s marine environments.
- Climate change pressure on the Great Barrier Reef
Climate change is having the greatest impact on the Great Barrier Reef, and the signals of climate change such as increasing water temperatures, are accelerating. Furthermore, climate change will amplify the impacts of other threats.
- Coastal development pressure on the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem remains vulnerable to the effects of past, current and future coastal development, as well as cumulative impacts.
- Direct use pressure on the Great Barrier Reef
The observed impacts from direct commercial and non-commercial use of the Great Barrier Reef are mainly localised. However, collectively, the impacts of this use are obvious (to varying degrees) in many locations. The cumulative effects of extraction and damage to the Great Barrier Reef by direct use, coupled with smaller windows of recovery, are reducing the resilience of the ecosystem.
- Land-based run-off pressure on the Great Barrier Reef
Poor water quality continues to affect inshore areas of the Great Barrier Reef. The rate of reduction of pollutant loads has been slow as a result of modest improvements in agricultural land management.
- Crown-of-thorns starfish pressure on the Great Barrier Reef
Outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish are ongoing and causing coral decline on the Great Barrier Reef. The underlying causes of outbreaks are multifaceted with no single trigger categorically proven to initiate outbreaks.
- Invasive non-native flora and fauna species identified in marine ecosystems
Queensland has two species of invasive non-native marine flora and fauna species (marine pests) established with a high possibility of further introductions through international shipping activity and other pathways.
Resources
| Healthy Land and Water South East Queensland report card | The Healthy Land and Water South East Queensland Report Card covers the 18 major river catchments from the Noosa River Catchment to the New South Wales Border, as well as the marine areas of Pumicestone Passage, Moreton Bay and the Broadwater. The report card is an annual commentary of the state of estuarine, marine and freshwater health with waterway monitoring from about 400 sites across the region. The 2015 report card introduced new indicators, including riparian vegetation, and combined indicators to calculate one overall grade per catchment. The 2017 report card added the impact from sediment entering waterways, the extent of habitats such as riparian vegetation, and waterways’ social and economic benefits ratings. It also explored management actions needed to improve waterways health. |
| Reef Water Quality Report Card and Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program (Paddock to Reef Program) | The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan 2017–2022 seeks to improve the quality of water flowing from the catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. The plan builds on previous water quality plans by setting separate targets for reducing water pollution from each catchment to enable better prioritisation of actions. The Reef Water Quality Report Card 2017 and 2018 assess the results of Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan’s actions reported up to June 2018. For the first time, the results in the Report Card are reported at a finer catchment and sub-catchment scale. The Paddock to Reef Program provides the framework for evaluating and reporting progress towards the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets and objectives through the report card. Monitoring and modelling of water quality occurs across a range of attributes, from paddock scale through to sub-catchment, catchment, regional and Great Barrier Reef-wide. The Paddock to Reef program evaluates management practice adoption and effectiveness, catchment condition, pollutant run-off and inshore marine condition. |
| Gladstone Harbour Report Card | The Gladstone Harbour Report card reports on estuarine and marine condition in the harbour based on monitoring of ecological and biological indicators, and also reports on social, economic and cultural indicators. The report card helps enable stakeholders to have confidence in the efforts to maintain and improve the health of the harbour. |
| Mackay–Whitsunday–Isaac Report Card | The Mackay–Whitsunday–Isaac Report Card, reports on the health of the region’s waterways, including the catchments of the Don, Proserpine, Pioneer, O’Connell and Plane basins, 8 estuaries, and the inshore and offshore marine areas to the eastern boundary of the Great Barrier Reef. The report card helps community, industry, science, tourism and government to work together to determine what more can be done to look after our waterways. |
| Wet Tropics Report Card | The Wet Tropics Report Card assesses the health of the major rivers, estuaries, inshore and offshore reefs in the Wet Tropics region. The Daintree, Mossman, Barron, Mulgrave, Russell Johnstone, Tully, Murray and Herbert freshwater basins are assessed for water quality, habitat and hydrology, and fish. The report card communicates information on waterway health, enables long term trends to be identified and supports action to improve the health of Wet Tropics waterways. |
| Townsville Dry Tropics Report Card | Released in 2019, the pilot report card provides information on the ecological condition of waterways, and the community and economic benefits provided by waterways. The results on the condition of freshwater basins, estuarine/coastal, inshore marine and offshore marine environments within the Townsville Dry Tropics region are detailed. The results provide scores and grades for indicators, indicator categories, indices, and overall scores for the categories of Water, Biodiversity, Community and Economy within 7 zones. The report card additionally includes a qualitative confidence measure for each score for the indicator categories within Water and Biodiversity. The confidence is based on the accuracy of the data used in the analysis. |
| Eye on the Reef | Eye on the Reef program enables anyone who visits the Great Barrier Reef to contribute to its long-term protection by collecting valuable information about the reef health, marine animals and incidents. Contributions range from sharing photos through the app to undertaking rapid surveys of key species. All information collected through the Eye on the Reef program is combined into a centralised data reporting system available to marine park managers and researchers. |
| Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report | Every 5 years the Outlook Report examines the Great Barrier Reef’s health, pressures and likely future. It provides a snapshot of current condition and trend of Great Barrier Reef values and threats (through theme assessments). It also examines progress in protecting the reef through an assessment of management effectiveness. |
| Australian Institute of Marine Monitoring | This program surveys 47 midshore and offshore reefs across the Great Barrier Reef region and represents the longest continuous record of change in reef communities over such a large geographic area. The program captures the natural variability of coral and fish populations and documents effects of disturbances such as crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, cyclones and bleaching events. The data provides awareness of other threats to the reef (such as outbreaks of coral disease) and other issues of concern to reef managers. |
| Fisheries Queensland Long-term Monitoring Program | The Fisheries Queensland Long-term Monitoring Program collects fishery data for key fish species and stocks to inform fisheries management and stock status assessments. |
| Wetlandinfo | Wetlandinfo provides detailed information of the state’s wetlands (including lakes, swamps, rivers, estuaries and oceans) based on an innovative mapping and classification methodology. It uses existing information including water body mapping derived from Landsat satellite imagery, regional ecosystem mapping, topographic data, and the Species Recovery Information Gateway (Spring) database to provide consistent, detailed and high resolution wetland mapping for the whole of Queensland. |