Dismal reef report card “not for the faint-hearted”

However, there had been some recovery of coral and seagrass in one catchment area where discharges had dropped.

Canegrowers Queensland says it will closely examine the latest report card on the health of the Great Barrier Reef, which found the cane industry needed to step up its efforts to improve water quality.

Report Card 2014 assesses the combined results of all Reef Water Quality Protection Plan actions up to June 2014. Agforce General President Grant Maudsley claimed that the number of graziers participating in best-management practices has doubled while chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Russell Reichelt, praised farmers for cutting down on the use of fertilisers.

Queensland Environment Minister Dr Steven Miles will deliver the key findings of the report at the RiverSymposium event – a meeting of river managers, policy developers and scientists created to help with the sharing of knowledge on water management.

“This is particularly important because we want to reduce the amount of sediment flowing to the Great Barrier Reef and minimise the risk of seagrass and coral damage”.

The official target for all these practices is a 90% reduction in pesticide use within three years.

“We can not simply do more of the same”, Dr Miles. Run-off of sediment, nitrogen particles and pesticides into the reef declined by 12%, 11.5% and 30.5% respectively, during the assessment period.

Mr Hunt said while there are improvements, further work is required.

“It takes time for improvements in land management to translate into measurable outcomes in marine condition”.

Mr Borg said many growers in the Mackay region also were considered by the Water Quality Improvement Plan ABCD Framework to be either at a B or C or higher level in their practices.

But it said that despite all attempts to save the reef, it had still lost half of its coral cover over the past 30 years. “We know the positive changes we are seeing on land will continue to translate into real, long-term benefits for the reef”.

If one of my kids came home with a report card like this I would be a bit disappointed.

“The Queensland Government is committed to working collaboratively with industry, regional bodies, research organisations and other interested stakeholders to drive accelerated changes that need to happen if we are going to protect the health and resilience of the Reef”.