Reef And Rivers Podcast

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.