Synthesis of Water Quality influences in ports of the Fitzroy region, Queensland October 2015 Nicole Flint, Emma Jackson, Scott Wilson, Krista Verlis and John Rolfe School of Medical and Applied Sciences, and School of Business and Law CQUniversity Australia This report should be cited as: Flint, N., Jackson, E., Wilson, S., Verlis, K., and Rolfe, J. (2015). Synthesis of water quality influences in ports of the Fitzroy region, Queensland. A report to the Fitzroy Basin Association for the Fitzroy Water Quality Improvement Plan. CQUniversity Australia, North Rockhampton, Queensland. This document was prepared by Nicole Flint, Emma Jackson, Scott Wilson, Krista Verlis and John Rolfe (CQUniversity). The authors thank Amie Anastasi (CQUniversity), Tom Coughlin (Fitzroy Basin Association) and Gladstone Ports Corporation for reviewing the report. We thank Gordon Dwane and Megan Ellis (Gladstone Ports Corporation) for their cooperation and contributions, as well as PCIMP Inc. and several local industries for providing information on their environmental monitoring programs. For further information contact: Dr Nicole Flint School of Medical and Applied Sciences CQUniversity Australia North Rockhampton Campus Email: [email protected] Phone: +61 7 4923 2128 Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................. 1 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1. Background ............................................................................................................................. 3 2. Background and characterisation of the Port of Gladstone and the Port of Rockhampton .......... 5 2.1. Introduction to the Port of Rockhampton .............................................................................. 5 2.1.1. Port capacity and handling.............................................................................................. 5 2.1.2. Catchment activities for the Port of Rockhampton ........................................................ 7 2.2. Introduction to the Port of Gladstone .................................................................................... 8 2.2.1. Port capacity and handling.............................................................................................. 8 2.2.2. Catchment activities for the Port of Gladstone ............................................................ 13 2.3. Quality Assurance and Environmental Certifications ........................................................... 14 2.4. National and international context of port operations ........................................................ 15 3. Factors influencing port water quality .......................................................................................... 19 3.1. Urban sources ....................................................................................................................... 20 3.2. Catchment sources ............................................................................................................... 20 3.3. Shipping ................................................................................................................................. 21 3.3.1. Ship movements: sediment re-suspension and emissions ........................................... 22 3.3.2. Shipping incidents ......................................................................................................... 22 3.3.3. Marine debris and ship-sourced pollution .................................................................... 27 3.3.4. Discharge of ballast water............................................................................................. 28 3.3.5. Use of anti-fouling paints .............................................................................................. 31 3.4. Ports activities ....................................................................................................................... 32 3.4.1. Maintenance and capital dredging ............................................................................... 32 3.4.2. Wharf facilities .............................................................................................................. 37 3.5. Discharge from port-side industries ..................................................................................... 38 3.5.1. Discharge and emissions ............................................................................................... 38 3.5.2. Recent industrial incidents ............................................................................................ 42 3.5.3. Acid sulfate soils ............................................................................................................ 42 3.6. Ocean sources (of pollution) ................................................................................................. 43 3.7. Marine industries and recreation ......................................................................................... 44 3.7.1. Recreation ..................................................................................................................... 44 3.7.2. Commercial fishing ........................................................................................................ 47 4. Current water quality monitoring and reporting .......................................................................... 48 4.1. Port of Gladstone Monitoring ............................................................................................... 48 4.1.1. Port Curtis Integrated Monitoring Program ................................................................. 48 4.1.2. Gladstone Ports Corporation monitoring ..................................................................... 49 4.1.3. Other industry near-field monitoring ........................................................................... 50 4.1.4. Queensland Government monitoring ........................................................................... 51 4.1.5. Port Curtis Harbour Watch ........................................................................................... 52 4.1.6. Marine debris research ................................................................................................. 53 4.1.7. MangroveWatch ........................................................................................................... 55 4.2. Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership .............................................................................. 55 4.3. Port of Rockhampton monitoring ......................................................................................... 57 4.3.1. Gladstone Ports Corporation monitoring ..................................................................... 57 4.3.2. Queensland Government monitoring ........................................................................... 57 4.3.3. MangroveWatch ........................................................................................................... 57 4.4. Fitzroy Partnership for River Health ..................................................................................... 58 4.5. Other programs and studies ................................................................................................. 59 4.5.1. Creek Watch Gladstone ................................................................................................ 59 4.5.2. Other Queensland Government monitoring ................................................................ 59 4.5.3. Marine Monitoring Program ......................................................................................... 59 4.5.4. AIMS monitoring ........................................................................................................... 59 4.5.5. Other studies ................................................................................................................. 60 5. Water quality management .......................................................................................................... 61 5.1. Environmental legislation and agreements .......................................................................... 61 5.1.1. International Agreements ............................................................................................. 62 5.1.2. Australian Government legislation ............................................................................... 64 5.1.3. Queensland Government legislation ............................................................................ 65 5.2. Water Quality Guidelines ...................................................................................................... 67 5.3. GPC environmental management and offsets ...................................................................... 71 6. Discussion and knowledge gaps .................................................................................................... 72 6.1. Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 72 6.2. Knowledge gap identification ............................................................................................... 73 6.3. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 78 7. References ...................................................................................................................................