Status of marine and coastal natural assets in the Fitzroy Basin September 2015 Prepared by Johanna Johnson, Jon Brodie and Nicole Flint for the Fitzroy Basin Association Incorporated Version 6: 01 November 2015 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Coastal natural assets: status and trends ....................................................................................... 5 2.1. Estuaries .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2. Coastal wetlands ..................................................................................................................... 6 2.3. Islands and cays .................................................................................................................... 12 3. Marine assets: status and trends .................................................................................................. 14 3.1. Coral reefs ............................................................................................................................. 16 3.2. Seagrass meadows ................................................................................................................ 21 3.3. Species of conservation interest ........................................................................................... 25 3.3.1. Dugongs .............................................................................................................................. 25 3.3.2. Cetaceans (whales and dolphins)........................................................................................ 26 3.3.3. Australian snubfin dolphins ................................................................................................ 26 3.3.4. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins ........................................................................................ 27 3.3.5. Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin........................................................................................... 27 3.3.6. Whales ................................................................................................................................ 27 3.3.7. Reptiles ................................................................................................................................ 28 3.3.8. Flatback turtles ................................................................................................................... 28 3.3.9. Green turtles ....................................................................................................................... 29 3.3.10. Hawksbill turtles................................................................................................................ 29 3.3.11. Loggerhead turtles ............................................................................................................ 29 3.3.12. Leatherback turtles ........................................................................................................... 30 3.3.13. Olive ridley turtles ............................................................................................................. 30 3.3.14. Estuarine crocodiles .......................................................................................................... 30 3.3.15. Sea snakes ......................................................................................................................... 30 3.3.16. Sawfish .............................................................................................................................. 33 3.3.17. Seabirds ............................................................................................................................. 33 4. Pressures and threats to coastal and marine assets ..................................................................... 35 4.1. Terrestrial pollutants: declining water quality ...................................................................... 35 4.2. Crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks...................................................................................... 39 4.3. Coastal development, ports and shipping ............................................................................ 40 4.4. Extreme events: floods and cyclones .................................................................................... 41 4.5. Climate change: elevated sea temperatures ........................................................................ 46 4.6. Cumulative pressures ............................................................................................................ 47 5. Knowledge gaps and recommendations ....................................................................................... 49 6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 50 7. References .................................................................................................................................... 54 List of Figures Figure 1. Map of Fitzroy Basin marine region and catchments. ............................................................. 3 Figure 2. Wetland areas of the Fitzroy Basin and coastal catchments, showing nationally important wetlands. ............................................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 3. Coastal islands of Balaclava, Curtis and Facing islands in the Fitzroy region. ........................ 12 Figure 7. Seabird nesting islands and cays in the Capricorn-Bunker Group. (From Hemson & McDougall 2013) ................................................................................................................................... 33 Figure 8. Annual discharge (ML) for the Fitzroy River at Rockhampton. (From Australian Bureau of Meteorology) ........................................................................................................................................ 36 Figure 9. Estimated plume extent for the Fitzroy River in early 2011. (From M. Devlin) ..................... 37 Figure 10. Rockhampton flooded in 2011 following ex-tropical cyclone Tasha rainfall. ...................... 42 Figure 11.(a) Burnett flood plume at river mouth 2013, (b) Map of Burnett-Mary flood plumes (From Devlin et al.) .......................................................................................................................................... 43 Figure 12. Monthly cumulative marine turtle strandings in Queensland between 1998-2012 inclusive. (From Meager & Limpus 2012) ............................................................................................................. 45 Figure 13. Exposure of the GBR Marine Park to tropical cyclones, COTS and thermal stress between 2001 and 2011. (from Maynard et al. 2013) ......................................................................................... 48 List of Tables Table 1. Conservation status of habitats and fauna in wetlands of the Fitzroy Basin and coastal catchments. (From Environmental Protection and Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999 and Queensland Nature Conservation Act (NCA) 1992) .................................................................................................... 8 Table 2. Area of wetland systems and their extent change for the Fitzroy Basin and coastal catchments. (From WetlandInfo, Queensland Government, www.wetlandinfo.ehp.qld.gov.au/wetlands/) .................................................................................... 11 Table 3. Bioregions of the Fitzroy marine area from north to south. Reef bioregions are coloured blue and non-reef bioregions orange. (From Day et al. 2002; GBRMPA website). ...................................... 14 Table 4. Status of inshore coral reefs in the Fitzroy region between 2008 and 2013: ■ = very good (80‐100), ■ = good (60 ‐ <80), ■ = moderate (40 ‐ <60), ■ = poor (20 ‐ <40), ■ = very poor (0 ‐ <20). (From Thompson et al. 2013)................................................................................................................ 20 Table 5. Area of seagrass shallower than 15 m in the NRM regions and entire GBR (from McKenzie 2010) within the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. ..................................... 21 Table 6. Long‐term status of seagrass meadows based on abundance in reef and coastal habitats Fitzroy region: July 2005 – May 2012 ■ = very good (80‐100), ■ = good (60 ‐ <80), ■ = moderate (40 ‐ <60), ■ = poor (20 ‐ <40), ■ = very poor (0 ‐ <20). (From McKenzie et al. 2014) ................................. 22 Table 7. Seagrass status (community & environment) for the Fitzroy region: July 2011 – May 2012 . 23 ■ = very good (80-100), ■ = good (60 - <80), ■ = moderate (40 - <60), ■ = poor (20 - <40), ■ = very poor (0 - <20). (From McKenzie et al. 2014) ......................................................................................... 23 Table 8. Minimal light threshold exceedance for days seagrass are exposed to low light levels. ....... 24 Table 9. Conservation status of marine fauna found in the Fitzroy Basin marine region. (from EPBC website and NCA website). ..................................................................................................................