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Monday, 18 April 2011

The health of the rivers and estuaries in Australia's tropical north has been the focus of a $30 million study over five years.

The Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research hub is now into its final year and is bringing together new knowledge from more than 70 researchers in social, cultural, environmental and economic fields.

Professor Peter Davies, Director of UWA 's Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, led the Western Australian arm of the Government funded study, which also included Griffith University in Queensland and Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory.

"These projects often involve flying into an area, doing the field work and flying out again," said Professor Davies, who is based in Albany. "But we have stationed permanent staff in Kununurra, Broome and Fitzroy Crossing, to help build regional capacity.

"Part of the project was to both include Indigenous knowledge in water planning and to train Indigenous people how to monitor water and give them skills to continue working in this area."

He said that nearly half of the tropical waterways in Australia were in Indigenous Protected Areas. "So it was important from the start to have Indigenous people involved in planning the research program on the TRaCK Board.

"We spent most of the first year talking to land and water managers and that included a large number of Indigenous people."

Professor Davies said one of the many fruitful outcomes of the project was recognising the synergy between Indigenous culture and the study of the ecology.

"Indigenous people have always regarded permanent pools of water as an important part of their culture," he said. "This study also proved for us the importance of permanent pools as refuges for fauna during the dry season, when other waterways dry up.

"If you damage a permanent pool, it can damage the whole ecology of the area, so we must make sure that they are managed properly."

Again in the field of ecology, the researchers discovered the importance of unbroken connection along a river, from the source to the mouth. "Any dams or water abstraction from the river interrupts the upstream migration of native fish including barramundi.

"They do their feeding on the flood plains then go upriver to reproduce. If they don't or can't make it upriver, it affects the species which are supported by them in the upper reaches, and the whole ecology of the river is impacted.

"We weren't aware before this of how crucial these links are to the health of rivers. They are much more fragile environments than we had believed."

The consortium which includes UWA as a core partner has just been awarded a further $16.5m from the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to develop a Northern Biodiversity Hub under a $100m National Environmental Research Program.

"TRaCK is providing the science and knowledge that governments, communities and industries need for the sustainable use and management of Australia's tropical rivers and estuaries," Professor Davies said.

"The consortium's initiatives have generated a range of new information and tools that will be critical for the evidence-based management of water resources in northern Australia."

Published in UWA News , 18 April 2011

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