Australia's floods: Murky waters danger to dugong herds

Brian Williams The Courier-Mail Adelaide Now 17 Jan 11;

SCIENTISTS fear muddy floodwaters will cripple Moreton Bay's dugong and sea turtle herds.

With the Brisbane River running at a peak of 13,000 cubic metres per second, a huge plume of turbid water has spread across the bay.

It is expected to cause enormous damage to the seagrass beds upon which many inshore marine species depend.

Thousands of tonnes of flood debris now lines the mouth of the Brisbane River and its surrounds.

Queensland Conservation Council chairman Simon Baltais said the bay looked like a war zone.

Conservation groups Keep Australia Beautiful (KAB) and the Australian Marine Conservation Society, as well as the coast guard and fishing organisations, are planning a massive river and bay clean-up to fix the mess.

Bond University Emeritus Professor Tor Hundloe said that while farmland profited from the rich silt deposited by floods, marine areas usually suffered.

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Professor Hundloe, also the KAB chairman, said an inspection was needed first to prioritise problem areas.

"It will take a major co-ordinated effort, but everyone's willing to chip in," Professor Hundloe said.

"I've been in contact with the Premier's office and I've got Bond uni students who are more than happy to duck my lectures to help out."

Mr Baltais said under normal conditions, wildlife had evolved to recover from such large-scale natural events.

"But they are already stressed from pollution and over-development," Mr Baltais said.

Although the seagrass beds nearest the mainland, along which dugong graze, will be damaged, reports from Moreton Island's Tangalooma Resort director Trevor Hassard were that the eastern side of the bay remained relatively clear.

A strong wind was blowing much of the polluted water back towards the mainland.

In 1992, a major Mary River flood hit Hervey Bay.

Of the bay's 1800-strong dugong herd the largest in Australia it was thought just 200 survived.

Most of Hervey Bay's seagrass was denuded or died, especially below 10m, after turbid water and silt reduced light levels.

Mr Baltais said no timeframe had been set for an inspection and clean-up, but it probably should include the Navy.

"We're in the hands of the recovery taskforce," he said.

"We don't want to compromise activities and plans that are already being put in place."

Mr Baltais said until the array of material such as sunken boats, refuse and construction material was removed, the bay would remain dangerous for boats.

Professor Hundloe said no other city in Australia had a waterway at its doorstep like Moreton Bay.

"We've got to do something about this major environmental disaster," he said.