Baker et al., 2003:

"Through a Memorandum of Understanding announced on 13 August 2002, the Federal Government and the Queensland Government have undertaken to develop a Reef Water Quality Protection Plan with the goal of stabilising and reversing the decline in water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef as soon as practicable. The following statement summarises the report of a Panel of Scientists, (See Attachment 2, page 170, full report) which was established to provide advice to facilitate the development of that Plan. The Terms of Reference that the Panel was asked to address are noted throughout the document, and are included in full on page 6 above. Important terms used in this summary report are explained in Section 3.2 and Attachment 5.

The Panel met on nine occasions and interviewed scientists, managers of Reef Agencies, representatives of major "User groups", and representatives of Non-Government Organisations. Written submissions were received, having been invited from all Queensland local government authorities adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef region, and from Australian Universities involved in Great Barrier Reef research. A total of 459 references was sighted or cited in the report.

As a group of scientists, the Panel is acutely aware of the changes that occur over various time frames from decades to thousands of years. For example, profound changes have occurred in the scales of thousands of years, with respect to the existence of the Great Barrier Reef, and the impact of a 40-metre sea level rise from about 18,000 years ago to about 8,000 years ago. We are not, however, reporting on the time scale of thousands of years.

In this report, we are concerned with what has happened over the very short time period of a maximum of about 200 years or so. Although humans have not been systematically monitoring events in the Reef for anything like the necessary length of time to be confident of fully understanding the impact of any changes in conditions (such as that of water quality), some of the Reef organisms (such as the hard corals), and some of the sediments in the Reef region, may well have retained "signals" or "indicators" of these recent events. These signals can now be accessed and evaluated using accepted scientific methodologies.

The Terms of Reference have set out that the Panel must focus on land-sourced pollutants, and it is recognised that these are not the only source of pressure on the Reef. Our aim has been to be as definitive about the level of these pollutants and the extent of their impact as is practicable, and to clearly describe the boundaries of uncertainty within which we have operated. This summary should be read with this in mind, and the full report should be read to understand the background to the summary statements.

The Panel also recognises that several other studies related to the issue of Reef water quality are planned or already in progress, and that these studies will further our knowledge beyond what we have at our disposal at this time. This, however, is the nature of science. If we wait for all the relevant research to be completed before making a decision on the level of risk then we run the risk of making those decisions too late.

The Panel considered nine terms of reference related to the evidence and impact of any decline in water quality entering the Reef from river catchments, advising on capabilities, gaps and priority research needs to achieve water quality improvements (including commenting on the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Water Quality Action Plan [GBRMPA Action Plan]), and on practical options for reducing adverse water quality impacts on the Reef.

The Panel found that there are clear indications that major land use practices in the river catchments, delivering waters to the Reef, have led to accelerated erosion and greatly increased the delivery of nutrients over pre-1850 levels. The reasons for this decline are varied but relate to activities within the river catchments, such as the extensive grazing practices in the drier catchments and overgrazing in general, urban development, agricultural (including horticultural) production, water use practices, extensive vegetation clearing and wetland drainage on coastal plains and development on acid sulphate soils (ASS) and on potentially acid sulphate soils (PASS).

The Panel found that there is clear evidence of the effect of these practices on some rivers, estuaries and inshore areas. Reefs at a number of inshore locations along the coast have been disturbed and have remained in a disturbed state. These reefs exhibit characteristics consistent with altered ecological function due to enhanced nutrient availability or sedimentation. Evidence of impacts on offshore areas of the Reef is not well understood, however information from overseas shows that by the time such effects are obvious the system would be almost irreparably damaged. In light of the above factors the Panel confirmed that there is a serious risk to the long-term future of at least the inshore reef area and that action is necessary to avoid such damage.

The Panel believes that an integrated resource management approach to dealing with the issue is the best way forward and supports the concepts of risk assessment and target setting. To this end the Panel found that the GBRMPA Action Plan has value on a broad basis, but requires significant refinement, particularly at a sub-catchment level. The future development of water quality targets and risk classification must include community input and would best be achieved through existing regional structures using specific local water quality data. The Panel proposes that such development should be initiated through a two day dedicated multi-disciplinary workshop providing a values-objectives-indicators-measurements decision tree for the Reef, involving representatives of all relevant stakeholders and experts in the field of water quality and taking account of State of the Environment reporting.

This Report identifies gaps in current knowledge and provides advice on tools and methods to improve water quality and how adverse water quality impacts on the Reef might be reduced. The Panel believes that its advice, which necessarily invokes the Precautionary Principle, should form an integral part in the development of an effective Reef Water Quality Protection Plan."

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Citation and/or URL

Baker, J., Furnas, M., Johnson, A., Moss, A., Pearson, R., Rayment, G., Reichelt, R., Roth, C. & Shaw, R. 2003, A report on the study of land based pollutants and their impacts on water quality in and adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef: an assessment to guide the development of management plans to halt any decline in the water quality of river catchments draining to the Reef, as a result of land-based pollution, and to achieve the long-term goal of reversing any trend in declining water quality: report to the Intergovernmental Steering Committee, Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Action Plan, Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet, Brisbane.

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Spatial Coverage

 GBR catchment

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Temporal Coverage

 2003

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Update Frequency

 Not applicable 

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Other Information

None