Wet Tropics Waterways

11/06/2026

Coming up on Tuesday: We are hosting the
WATER QUALITY IN THE WET TROPICS ONLINE FORUM
What progress has this region made and what's next?
💧8:30am-11:30am online
Topics include:
💧The soon to be released Wet Tropics Water Quality Strategy (Jane Waterhouse from C20 Consulting)
💧A Paddock to Reef overview (Belinda Metzdorf from Office of the Great Barrier Reef)
💧Cane and banana project updates (Amelia Foster from Australian Banana Growers and Deb Telford from Innisfail Canegrowers)
💧Fertiliser and water quality trends (Steve Lewis from TropWATER)
💧The format of the new Reef Water Quality Report Card, which reports catchment and marine conditions over six NRM regions including ours. (Belinda Metzdorf)
💧Ask the speakers - Q&A Panel

Find out more and register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/water-quality-in-the-wet-tropics-tickets-1988300713959?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true

This event is part of the Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program, jointly funded by the Australian and Queensland Governments.

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Queensland Environment Australian Banana Growers CANEGROWERS TropWATER Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

07/06/2026

The ocean off our region is a place of astounding natural beauty. Its warmer water is home to thousands of fish, turtles, sharks, rays and of course corals. In celebrating we are supporting all the work by many different groups and individuals on land and sea to keep our oceans healthy - to restore what has been lost, protect what remains, and ensure that future generations inherit a thriving ocean and a stable climate.

World Ocean Day

03/06/2026

Living and breathing Wet Tropics waterways... We spoke with Robert Ambrum from Jaragun EcoServices about his role in the Russell River catchment:

💧What do you love most about working in our waterways?
I grew up being on Country, living down the road from Babinda Creek and the Russell River. I still live close by. Over the years I’ve always loved spending time in our waterways. They have become my backyard. I now work on and around the waterways every day and I love it.

💧Best experience
Working alongside the rangers and making a difference by restoring our country, planting trees and fixing our waterways. Doing this with my family is what makes it the best experience. We are working together and working with different age groups.

💧What changes have you seen over the years?
The build-up of sediment in the creek, less sooty grunters and tilapia taking over, which is sad to see. On the other hand, there are improvements. We are putting trees back to stabilise creek and riverbanks, which stops erosion that’s causing some shallowness in the waterways.

💧If you had one message…
No matter how small it is, every individual can do things to help look after Country and waterways, to reduce things like pollution and over-fishing. Our waterways deserve respect. They are the giver of life to our people.

Babinda News

31/05/2026

What a weekend on the water. This is a photo of Timana Island (also known as Thorpe Island) and the inshore reef off Mission Beach.

27/05/2026

Community groups are the backbone of so many environmental projects across our region, Australia and the world. We spoke with TREAT volunteers for the Reef and Rivers Magazine - about thousands of trees going into the ground along waterways in the Russell River catchment.

TREAT's more formal name is Trees for the Evelyn and Atherton Tablelands. The group has been growing and planting native rainforest trees in our region for 40 years...

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gWtsykaC

And see the whole magazine here: https://lnkd.in/gBVzxUKj

TREAT Atherton Tablelands

24/05/2026

Coral spawning's impressive reach: Over 100km from their parents, offspring of a common coral branching species have set up new homes - in one of the longest dispersal distances ever measured.

It's connecting the Great Barrier Reef with Coral Sea atolls and New Caledonia, and it's hoped this can help with environmental challenges...

Read about it here: shorturl.at/43MIP

The offspring of a common coral branching species set up new homes up to 100 kilometres or more from their parents in one of the longest dispersal

19/05/2026

The Reef 2050 Catchment Water Quality Strategy is out:
The Australian and Queensland governments released the new strategy this week, which builds on previous improvements in water quality and catchment health. Recognising that Reef health starts upstream, it focuses on improving water quality through sustainable whole-of-catchment action.

Below is an insight into progress since 2009.
See the whole plan, priority actions and targets at: https://www.reefplan.qld.gov.au/

Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water Queensland Environment

18/05/2026

Thanks to Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership for hosting the regional report card teams in Gladstone last week. Wet Tropics Waterways is one of five regional report card partnerships across the Great Barrier Reef set up as an initiative of the Reef 2050 Plan. It's always great to meet, collaborate and learn from other partnership teams.

05/05/2026

Do you know someone who loves organising events and is available a few hours a week? We're looking for someone to help us organise our 2026 Report Card launch on 23 July. If you're interested send us an expression of interest to [email protected].