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Mary River Catchment news
BUSY TIME FOR MRCCC
MRCCC, the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee, has wrapped up another Mary River Month with a raft of activities and things haven’t gotten any quieter since.
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The AGM at Mimburi, where Belli Creek meets the Mary River, had over 70 people in attendance, keen to hear of the MRCCC’s work in the twelve months previous.
A number of MRCCC’s project officers gave presentations of works carried out during the year and these, along with the Chairman’s Report made up the Annual Report, copies of which were available on the day but which can also be accessed via the MRCCC website – mrccc.org.au
The guest speaker was Tom Espinoza, speaking on “Mary River Cod: where we’ve got to and where we’re going”, summarising recent information collected on genetics, habitat use, movement and (DNA ageing) that have been developed for the species. He also addressed knowledge gaps that remain and how we can start to address these through collaboration, strategic onground activities and strengthening consortiums.
An additional highlight of the day was drone footage by MRCCC’s Caitlin Mill (with musical accompaniment by Steve Burgess and Andy Tainsh) of the recent Catchment Crawl, following the Mary from upstream of Conondale all the way to River Heads where it enters Great Sandy Strait.
The Catchment Crawl, an annual event in October, saw two teams of water testers over two days, testing water quality at a number of sites along both the trunk of the river, as well as a number of tributaries and augments the work done by the volunteer Waterwatch network throughout the year.
On the Catchment Crawl and at the AGM, certificates of appreciation were presented to Sunshine Coast
Councillors Winston Johnstone and David Law for their assistance in purchasing new monitoring equipment for the networks in their regions. The report of the findings of this year’s Catchment Crawl is being prepared but a good summary is available in the Annual Report.
The annual Spring in the Mary photo competition had 73 talented entrants across a number of sections, and, once again, judges were impressed with the high standard of entries.
A “Mary River Rehabilitation” field inspection saw a mix of landholders and stakeholders visit various sites just upstream of Kenilworth to see at first hand, the impressive way that works had stood up to earlier flooding and how tree plantings at the sites were progressing.
Releases of endangered Mary River Cod fingerlings have taken place into suitable sites on both river and tributaries and relocation of some Mary River Turtle nests to predator and flood proof cages in Goomong and Moy Pocket has been carried out.
• The general meeting in Gympie was back to the old meeting place at Albert Park Bowls Club, a venue which had been completely submerged in the floods earlier in the year. Guest speaker was Rebecca Powlett from Queensland Hydro, providing delegates with information about, and taking questions on the Borumba Pumped Hydro Proposal.
Pictured top, Mimburi provided an excellent venue for the AGM.
Above centre, under a patch of impressive remnant trees, Ana Perez from the Great Barrier Reef Foundation addresses at the River Rehab field day.
