Better management of catchment runoff to marine receiving environments in northern Australia

Overview

There are many catchments in northern Australia where increased catchment development is proposed. This is largely in the form of irrigation development but also increased cattle stocking rates. Given the relatively low levels of such development in many catchments to date, there is a strong desire to maintain the integrity of coastal and marine receiving environments after the implementation of future developments. The baseline understanding of water quality in receiving marine environments and in the contributing catchments is very limited across much of northern Australia, making management and other development decisions very challenging. However, there are examples of intensive grazing and irrigation developments in northern Australia, e.g. in the Lower Burdekin Delta, adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef coastline, where lessons can be learnt to fast-track understandings and management and set testable hypotheses about the potential impacts of development in other northern catchments. Additionally, studies have been done on the potential impacts of water development on estuaries, coastal floodplains and the coast in other areas of northern Australia, e.g. Gulf of Carpentaria. This project aims to take advantage of these existing examples to improve the quality of decision-making around the impact of terrestrial runoff on the marine environment, providing a template for decision-makers.