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I recently spent 10 days on a recreational diving holiday in Fiji, where I spent the majority of my time diving the sheltered and oceanic waters either side of the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef to the south and south-east of Kadavu Island. The Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef sits on the northern edge of the Astrolabe Trough and runs parallel to almost the entire southern and eastern coast of Kadavu Island. Kadavu Island itself is widely regarded as one of the most traditional and authentic of the Fijian Islands, with respect to its lack of infrastructure development, land clearing, and industry. Kadavu is still relatively subsistence, with the exception of kava which is grown for consumption across Fiji. However, the lack of land clearing for roads and development results in the perception that the island, which is quite mountainous and steep, is relatively unpopulated. Images: (left) Kadavu Island, located south of the Fijian mainland (Google 2017) | (right) Kadavu Island and the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef from the air (Personal archive 2017) The effect of this was clear as day underwater. The Reef was in near-pristine condition, and with very few tourism centres in the area, we were the only divers on the reef, with the exception of local fishermen. The evidence of marine protection was astounding. Corals were well established, structurally diverse, abundant, and reefal systems were highly diverse in terms of corals (both soft and hard corals) and fauna species. It was clear that the limited coastal development, small scale land clearing and subsistence agriculture, limited terrestrial run-off, and limited interaction (through fishing and tourism) had maintained the water quality and condition of the reef to world-class ecosystem standards. It was quite a pleasure. Images: Personal photographs of the Great Astrolabe Barrier Reef - abundant and diverse Fast forward to less than two weeks later and I am back in Queensland, snorkelling the inner Great Barrier Reef near Townsville. The turbidity alone results in less than a metre of visibility in places (granted I was much shallower than during my dives in Fiji), and the corals are clearly struggling. In some areas, they are strong and recovering, but they are young and lack the skeletal structure observed in the relatively undisturbed waters of the Great Astrolabe. Now the comparisons are definitely not equal, and I was not in Fiji to conduct any scientific surveys. However, just based on my observations, the difference between the two inner portions of reef were astounding. As a coastal scientist, it is not new information that the Great Barrier Reef is struggling following decades of questionable coastal, land and marine management, not to mention the two consecutive years of wide-spread bleaching the reef has endured. Images: Personal photographs of the Great Barrier Reef (inner reef) close to the Whitsunday Islands - young corals recover from physical and human impacts, but there remains a lack of structural diversity. What my trip to Fiji showed me was that nothing happens in isolation and it is often impossible to blame one decision, one event, or one project on the health or impact to any ecosystem. Understanding and recognising cumulative impacts is critical for coastal and marine management, and it is premature to assume that a single solution is the right solution for managing or restoring ecosystems and ecosystem function. The case of the Great Barrier Reef is complex. It is an extensive and complex system with highly diverse yet localised ecosystem characteristics and structure – for example, it is almost impossible to compare the inner and outer reef areas with one another as the influences and systems are entirely different. However, understanding all of those influencers and systems is key to determining the best approach to conservation, management and restoration. It is impossible to blame one event alone for the loss of habitat or destruction of the environment, without considering all contributors and their weighting in cumulative terms.
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The 6th Queensland Coastal Conference, hosted jointly by the Australian Coastal Society (ACS) and Reef Catchments, was held from the 5th to the 7th September 2017 in Airlie Beach. Held every two years, the QCC celebrated its 10th year. As the Queensland Convenor of ACS, I was involved in the organisation and management of the QCC – not an easy task! But the event went without a hitch, and just under 120 delegates from across Queensland (and a few friends from southern shores escaping the southern Australian winter) descended on Airlie Beach for three days. The Conference was well attended by a diverse range of scientists, engineers, managers, and policy makers, from government (local, state and commonwealth), the private sector, natural resource management, university and research institutions, and not-for-profits. We heard emotive keynote presentations from Libby Edge’s EcoBarge volunteer organisation, who are cleaning up the Whitsunday Islands one piece of rubbish at a time; from Mayor Fred Gela, of the Torres Strait Islands Regional Council, talking about the reality of climate change and sea-level rise in the Torres Strait Islands; from Allen Grundy, Chair of Tourism Whitsundays, about the importance of the reef to the tourism industry and the need for scientists and tourism operators to join forces to save our natural assets; and Paul Groves and Donna Audas from GBRMPA talking about the fantastic work they have been doing to understand and address the habitat loss and land use changes in the GBR catchment. Many people commented on how inspiring and motivating the speeches were, that they hadn’t attended such a conference that has inspired and tugged heart string so hard as the QCC had this year.  Mayor Fred Gela from the Torres Strait Islands Regional Council explaining the real impacts of climate change on his community (photo taken by me) We also heard from various researchers, consultants, scientists and organisations on the individual projects and programs being implemented across the state, and the results that are starting to come back in. I was excited to have the opportunity to introduce my PhD topic – impacts of sand bypass systems on the sediment dynamics of tidal estuaries- to the coastal science and management community. The QCC was the first time I had shared my research formally outside of the comfort and security of Griffith University, and I was relieved and humbled that not only did people find my research topic interesting, but that they were actually excited about it and seeing the findings and publications that will hopefully being to come out of it in the next few months. This response has given me a renewed energy and motivated me to keep working hard at my PhD, which can be hard to manage sometimes with work and life commitments, and I hope to be able to present some findings and a completed (or near enough) sediment budget at the Estuarine and Coastal Science Association (ECSA) 57 Symposium in Perth next year. The Queensland Coastal Conference was a fantastic opportunity to connect and reconnect with colleagues, establish new networks, catch up with friends, and to hear about all the great work going on in the coastal zone around the state. I am excited about what comes out of the QCC, and what I’m able to achieve in my PhD now I have more reassurance and validation that my research is valuable.  Nick Harvey (University of South Australia), Paul Groves (GBRMPA) and I at the Queensland Coastal Conference dinner (photo credit: Peta Leahy) The inaugural Australian Coastal Restoration Symposium was held at James Cook University in Townsville on the 31 August and 1 September 2017. The Symposium, hosted by TropWATER, aimed to bring together coastal and marine restoration specialists and experts from across Australia, as well as a few international representatives, for the first time and initiate the development of a Coastal Restoration Network that will hopefully connect restoration scientists from across the country. Limited to 60 participants as the founding members, I was honoured to be invited to present on the restoration work I have been a part of over the past decade in the Maldives. My background in restoration has been quite varied. It has included shoreline restoration following the construction phases of massive developments (predominantly mangroves), coral gardening trials and coral reef restoration using electrolysis and translocation, riparian and mangrove restoration in the upper and lower reaches of tidal estuaries, and terrestrial restoration, remediation and rehabilitation of grossly disturbed and contaminated landscapes. For much of my short (12-year) career to date, I haven’t come across a large number of coastal or marine restoration scientists. Many scientists have done elements of monitoring of ecosystems, some of which have experienced some restoration, but there certainly hasn’t been much of a network or opportunity to connect previously.  Myself and members of the Coastal Restoration Network crew on Magnetic Island (photo credit: Todd Miller) When Dr. Ian McLeod from James Cook University contacted me a couple of months earlier with an invitation to present, I was very excited. Not only was it a fantastic opportunity for me to share the work I had been doing in the restoration space for over a decade, but more so it was an opportunity to meet like-minded scientists who had been working in the same space for many more years than I have been. The most astonishing thing about the Symposium was the diversity and volume of restoration projects that were and are going on throughout Australia. From oyster reef restoration in Victoria and South Australia, to mangrove restoration on Queensland’s Sunshine and Gold Coasts; from seagrass restoration in Gladstone, to crayweed restoration in Sydney. The diversity of projects was phenomenal. Add to that examples of coral restoration projects from the Philippines and my own from the Maldives, and oyster reef restoration projects in Texas and North Carolina, we quickly realised that there was truly some significant experience and knowledge in that room of 60 scientists. The two-day Symposium was jam-packed with presentations and examples of what was working, what needed improving, how projects were being delivered, and how the community was getting involved. There were scientists from local government, research centres, universities, state government, natural resource management groups, not-for-profits, federal government, and citizen science organisations. Egos were left at the door and we all came together as a combined force. These days we hear so often about environmental degradation and loss of ecosystems. The location of the Symposium, at JCU’s Townsville campus, was particularly important with respect to the extensive habitat and coral loss being experienced throughout the Great Barrier Reef and its catchment. It has been so depressing to be a marine or coastal scientist in recent times. You could be forgiven for thinking all was lost. But the Coastal Restoration Symposium did the opposite. Reports of successful restoration of coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangrove communities, and oyster reefs, gave us all an enormous boost. There truly is some really exciting work going on in the restoration space both in Australia and overseas. The afternoon of the second day was spent brainstorming the ‘where to from here’ question. We hope to develop a strong and powerful network of coastal and marine restoration scientists who can work together to develop innovative and successful ways of restoring marine and coastal habitats and protecting those still intact. The development of the network is already in the works, and I am excited to be part of its establishment. On Saturday, after the Symposium, around 15 of the members went across to Magnetic Island to learn more about the Reef Recovery pilot project being conducted by Reef Ecologic to address the macroalgae infestations on the fringing reef around Magnetic Island. The project aims to explore whether simply ‘weeding’ (i.e. removal of the algae by hand) can being to control algae populations and encourage assisted restoration and recovery of the reef. I have attended and contributed to many conferences and symposia over the years, but the Coastal Restoration Symposium was by far the most energising, inspiring, and exciting I have had the honour to be part of. I came away from the two-day Symposium and half day Reef Recovery pilot project field trip with a renewed energy. I am so inspired by the amazing work being done, and the knowledge that there is a strong and committed community of scientists working to restore some of the world’s most important habitats and ecosystems. I can’t wait to see where things go next, and I am excited to be part of the future.  The founding members of the Coastal Restoration Network at James Cook University (photo credit: TropWATER, JCU) |
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