Reef And Rivers Podcast

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.