Reef And Rivers Podcast

Award winning banana growers Steve and Richelle Lizzio grow bananas in Mission Beach on one of the closest banana farms to the Great Barrier Reef. Their business is a great example of what's been achieved in the banana industry since environmental management guidelines were introduced. 

Dr Matt Curnock is a senior research scientist at CSIRO in Townsville. His work in social and environmental science is focused on understanding how people perceive, value and interact with the Great Barrier Reef.  Given that 'managing the environment is actually about managing people', social science offers insights into reef programs and policies. 

Travis Sydes managing natural resources in Far North Queensland as part of FNQROC, which represents 10 local governments across the region. In this podcast he talks about biosecurity issues in the Wet Tropics with a particular focus on Amazon frogbit, an aquarium plant that is infesting local waterways. 

Geoff McClure is one of hundreds of conservation volunteers who have helped transform Cattana Wetlands in the north of Cairns into an environmental park. In this podcast he talks about his love of conservation and the work that has gone into restoring the biodiversity hotspot at Cattana.  

Zoologist Dr Barbara Wueringer talks about her work with the fascinating sawfish her research of and how trawling through old newspaper clippings from the Gold Rush era helped to understand more about its historic distribution before gill nets and trophy fishing decimated it's populations.

Fisheries ecologist Matt Moore from Catchment Solutions talks about why fish habitat connectivity within waterways is so important and how decisions made to fix fish barriers such as weirs and dams. 

Sam Bastounas is the CEO of Pacific Bio, an Australian company that develops green technology to address water quality and food security issues. In this podcast, Sam discusses the challenge of purifying water and the development of RegenAqua, a new technology developed with JCU that uses seaweed to strip nutrients from water before it enters waterways. 

Heidi Tait is the founder and Managing Director of Tangaroa Blue, a not for profit organisation focused on removing and preventing marine debris. In this podcast, Heidi talks about the problem of litter in our oceans and the importance of going beyond beach clean ups to tackle debris at its source.  

This is the 9th annual Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card to be released by Wet Tropics Waterways to assess the health and condition of freshwater basins, estuaries, inshore and offshore areas of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland.  Independent Chair Phil Laycock explains some of the key findings in 2024.

Micro invertebrates are tiny creatures that are invisible to the naked eye but form the basis of the food web in our waterways. Dr. Robert Walsh talks about the importance and diversity of microfauna for sustaining aquatic systems and reveals that their eggs can remain viable for up to 400-500 years, meaning that extinct species could come alive again if water is added!      

Australia loves its prawns so much that Queensland's aquaculture industry produces more than $200M of produce of each year, but is it sustainable? Kim Hooper, Executive Officer of the Australian Prawn Farmers Association, talks about the industry, how it works and how it minimises its impact on local waterways.     

Millions of tourists come to north Queensland each year to experience the natural wonder of the Great Barrier Reef. This influx of people from around the world represents an opportunity to educate and inform people about the complexity of the reef system and the threats that it faces.     In this week's Reef & Rivers podcast, Gareth Phillips, CEO of the Australian Marine Park Tourism Operators, talks about the link between science and reef tourism and how tourism can support conservation.   

Seagrass meadows play a critically important role in the reef ecosystem. They are nursery habitat for fish and prawns, they stabilise sediment and protect coastlines from erosion, they suck up and filter nutrients coming down from rivers into the reef lagoon, they absorb carbon and also help buffer the reef from pathogens and diseases.  Associate Professor at JCU Mike Rasheed shares some of his knowledge about seagrass and how researchers are monitoring seagrass meadows in the Wet Tropics.  Paul Doyle, General Manager of Strategy & Port Development for at Ports North also talks about why they monitor seagrass. 

The Great Barrier Reef is about the size of Japan or Italy and there are millions of dollars being invested in improving the runoff of water flowing off the land. How do we know if these reef projects are actually working?  Fiona Barron is the coordinator of the Paddock to Reef Program in the Wet Tropics, which tracks progress against targets in Australia's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan.   

Professor Mark Kennard discovered the Bloomfield River Cod in the early 90's whilst undertaking fish surveys as a research assistant. It is the only tropical cod in the world that has avoided predators by living in an 11 kms stretch of the Bloomfield River between two waterfalls.  

Did you know that seagrass is the only plant in the world that is capable of fruiting and flowering underwater? This is just one of many fascinating facts shared by Dr. Samantha Tol in this week's Reef & Rivers podcast. Samantha is a researcher at JCU and well known in the marine science world for her research into dugong and sea turtle poo. Her findings confirmed that dugongs and turtles are like the cassowaries of the ocean – by consuming seeds they increase the seeds viability and disperse them over a wider area.

The sugarcane industry is a highly visible part of the Wet Tropics landscape – if you drive between Ingham and the Daintree, you can't miss it. Employing more than 4000 direct jobs and supporting another 1800, it contributes over $630 million to our local rural economies. However, since the health of the Great Barrier Reef has been in the spotlight, so too has the impact of the sugar industry on water quality. In this week's Reef & Rivers podcast, we're joined by Joe Marano, a proud sugarcane farmer and passionate advocate for the industry. He talks us through the experiences of farming in a highly sensitive environment under the glare of the scientific and political spotlight.  

Nathan Waltham, Senior Principal Researcher at James Cook University, is an expert in coastal landscape ecology and processes.  In this episode of the Reef & Rivers podcast Nathan talks about the importance of different wetland habitats, the pressures from urban development and the future fo restoration work. 

This is the 8th annual Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card to be released by Wet Tropics Waterways to assess the health and condition of freshwater basins, estuaries, inshore and offshore areas of the Wet Tropics in Far North Queensland.  Independent Chair Dr Greg Vinall explains some of the key findings in 2023.

If you've visited the Cairns Aquarium you'll know that biodiversity and conservation education are a driving force behind their business model. In fact, raising awareness about the biodiversity in our world heritage-listed reef and rainforest underpins their entire philosophy. With over 100,000 visitors annually, the Aquarium is in a unique position to educate and influence. Christine Jorgensen is a senior wildlife educator at the Aquarium and joins us to talk about the role that the aquarium has to play in conservation in the Wet Tropics and beyond.

The Wet Tropics Major Integrated Project was an ambitious 4-year social change and reef water quality project, and has been described as a blueprint to accelerating progress towards achieving reef water quality targets. The project had unprecedented engagement from the agricultural sector and resulted in 23,966 of hectares of land under confirmed practice change, and saved an estimated 73 tonnes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen from flowing to the reef.  Fiona George was the project lead and re-joins us to talk about the project's achievements, it's point of difference, and the legacy it left behind.

Despite its name, the Johnstone River snapping turtle is no snappier than any other freshwater turtle – and is perhaps better known by its alias, the ‘bum breather'. According to turtle expert Alistair Freeman, this ability for cloacal respiration is thought to enable bum breathers to stay under water for prolonged periods to avoid predation, although this is still only theory. Robust and adaptable, the Johnstone River snapping turtle is an important contributor to keeping its freshwater ecosystem healthy, thanks to its enthusiastic consumption of detritus and dead things! When it's not hoovering up these tasty morsels, it enjoys hanging out in areas of river with deep pools and riffles, and healthy riparian vegetation. Alistair is a Senior Technical Officer for the Queensland Government's Aquatic Species Program and joins us to share his expertise and insights into the quirky Johnstone River snapping turtle.

Mangroves and saltmarsh are important coastal ecosystems that help purify water, buffer coastal communities from extreme weather and provide fish nurseries for our recreational and commercial fishing industries. They're also among the most efficient ecosystems in the world at sequestering and storing carbon – but are under threat from climate change as well as local pressures such as urban development, rubbish, pollution and weeds. Alex Sinchak leads the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre's MangroveWatch program, which harnesses the power of citizen science to protect and preserve mangrove and saltmarsh habitats. Join us as Alex shares some very cool mangrove facts and outlines how the program has gone from strength to strength in expanding its monitoring program thanks to monitoring contributions from more than 400 volunteers.

They might look pretty – or at least, pretty harmless, but Australia's ornamental fish trade can pose a serious threat to our waterways. Once an invasive is established, it makes eradication almost impossible, which means prevention is always better than cure. In this episode we're joined by freshwater fish biologist Mariah Millington to find out exactly what impact ornamental fish are having on our native species, as well as what we can do to encourage responsible fish ownership.

Tropical cyclones, though destructive, are part of the natural dynamics of the rainforest and reef. We often see their land-based impacts most vividly, but they also impact coral reefs and seagrass beds. We catch up with Professor Steve Turton to find out how anthropogenic climate change is changing the frequency, intensity and location of cyclones, and what this means for reef and seagrass beds.

Equal parts fearful and fascinating, bull sharks have a reputation as strong, aggressive sharks and are one of the most common species that anglers are likely to encounter in the estuaries and inshore marine zone. Nicolas Lubitz is a Ph.D candidate at James Cook University, and tracks bull sharks to find out where they travel and why. Join us to learn about the unique life cycles of bull sharks, whether they might be exhibiting natal philpatry, and what climate change means for their habitat range.

When we think about waterway pollution, things like paracetamol and caffeine probably aren't the first things that come to mind – but they're among the alarmingly long list of pharmaceuticals and consumables that are literally passing through our bodies and into waterways. Ecotoxicologist Dr Frederic Leusch joins us to talk about what's turning up, where it's turning up, and what it means for aquatic critters.

The 2022 Wet Tropics Waterway Health Report Card was released today. A lot of complex science goes on behind the report, and it can get a bit heavy, so we asked our Independent Chair Dr Greg Vinall to break it down. Join us, to learn about the good news stories and the areas in which we could be doing better; what's impacting waterway health grades and what's being done to mitigate threats; and how we're increasing our ability to analyse the health of our waterways.   

The science is in, and the results are out. The 2021 Report Card grades the condition of the freshwater basins, estuaries and marine environments across the Wet Tropics as an action of the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan. Join our Chair and Exec Officer to hear an overview of the results. 

Ports North is responsible for the development and management of the Ports of Cairns, Cape Flattery, Karumba, Mourilyan, Skardon River, Quintell Beach, Thursday Island, Burketown and Cooktown. Manager of Sustainability and External Policy, Paul Doyle, joins the podcast to talk about Ports North’s operations in the Wet Tropics, the Cairns shipping dredging project, and recent work on their environmental sustainability strategy.

Bill Dennison and Simon Costanza from the University of Maryland talk about the history and evolution of environmental report cards as a process for galvanising communities to improve environmental conditions. 

Water quality monitoring can be done on lots of different scales. Great Barrier Reef monitoring is done on a catchment scale with the results reflecting what's happening over a very large area. While this is useful to give a big picture perspective on the reef it is less relevant to farmers and doesn't give them any information about what changes they need to be making on their particular paddocks. The Major Integrated Project is unique in that it provides local scale monitoring to farmers and then supports them to make changes.  

Over 90% of Australia's bananas are grown in the Wet Tropics but with increasing pressure on our agricultural sectors to become more environmentally sustainable, the banana industry is making changes to improve the quality of water flowing off banana farms into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Michelle McKinlay, Industry Manager for the Australian Banana Growers Council, talks about what banana farmers are doing to become more environmentally sustainable.