Mary River Catchment Coordination Association Inc

The Reef Water Quality Grants Programme (RWQGP) works by co-investing with land managers to give them an incentive to improve their grazing land management practices. The MRCCC, in partnership with BMRG, DEEDI, Gympie District Beef Liaison Group and AgForce is delivering the RWQGP in the Mary Catchment. Funded by the Australian Government, the project works with interested graziers to implement improved land management practices to reduce the amount of nutrients, chemical and sediments leaving their farms and impacting on Reef Water Quality. Improved grazing land condition leads to greater pasture productivity, sustainability and enterprise profitability, whilst reducing the loss of valuable sediments and nutrients from our grazing lands. Wetland systems such as riparian zones, billabongs and marshes will be of a particular focus due to their important function of filtering out nutrients and sediments from the grazing landscape, before they reach the river system.

The MRCCC currently coordinates 8 Community Waterwatch networks involving 98 volunteers who monitor water quality at over 119 sites on waterways throughout the Mary River Catchment every month. Using field equipment provided by the MRCCC, volunteers monitor temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity. Volunteers also collect information on weather conditions, fauna sightings, aquatic weeds and pests. Data from the networks is entered onto a regional database, providing a baseline to observe trends and anomalies in water quality. Water quality reports are produced annually for each network, providing a water quality rating for each site. Some volunteers have now been collecting data for over 10 years.

The MRCCC has developed a draft recovery plan for threatened aquatic species in the Mary River Catchment, which is soon to be released for community consultation. Developed by the MRCCC in collaboration with the Federal Government and the Threatened Species Recovery team, the plan sets out a suite of actions needed to ensure the survival of the Mary’s most endangered and vulnerable aquatic species, including the Mary River cod, Queensland lungfish, Mary River turtle and Giant Barred frog.

This project targets landholders who are protecting and restoring riparian zones that contain habitat for the endangered Mary River Cod and Turtle, Australian Lungfish and the Giant-Barred frog. Activities of this project include riparian fencing, creation of offstream water supplies, riparian revegetation and riparian weed control including vine weed bio-control agent releases to encourage rainforest regeneration. An important outcome of this project is to increase community awareness of the threatened aquatic species and their habitat, and to provide community support for improving riparian resilience. The project is targeting several river and tributary reaches containing threatened species habitat from Cambroon to Tiaro.