Management Concern: High    

Adequacy of Information: Moderate

Summary extracts from Outlook Report 2009

• Exposure of the Great Barrier Reef to terrestrial sediments has increased, especially for inshore areas.
• The impacts of dredging and construction of port facilities - such as seabed disturbance, transport or re-suspension of contaminants, alteration of sediment movement and changes in coastal processes - can be significant, but are localised.
  

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Great Barrier Reef exposure model: total suspended solids
• Coral record of increased sediment discharge to the Great Barrier Reef since European settlement
• Sediments 
• Terrestrial run-off and its effects on reef ecology 
• Sources of sediment and nutrient exports to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area
• Soil erosion in cane farming 
  
• Coastal processes
• Coastal erosion 
• Likely reductions in rainfall and higher evaporation leading to reduced run-off 
  
• River mouth Monitoring - nutrient, sediment and pesticide loads 
• Inshore reef health - nutrient, sediment and pesticide loads
• Water Quality in the Great Barrier Reef - guidelines and current status
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems

Existing policies and management actions

• Water Quality Guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (2009)
  
• Regional Water Quality Improvement Plans
  
• Reef Rescue Marine Monitoring Program
  
• Improving water quality
• Coastal ecosystem protection
• Dredging and Spoil Disposal Policy [525KB]
  
• Environmental Impact Management Policy [900KB]
• Memorandum of Understanding between GBRMPA and Queensland Ports [1.3MB ]
  
  

Future management requirements

• Future management requirements in this area are being guided by ongoing assessment of emerging research outcomes and issues identified by the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009.

Defined research questions

• What are the implications of interactions, and any thresholds and synergies, between declining water quality and other broad-scale disturbances (e.g. crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, storms, and mass coral bleaching)?
  
• What are the potential consequences of alternative land use and resource management systems on coral bleaching and ecological thresholds, and on social and economic systems in the Great Barrier Reef?

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring