A case study in the Mackay Whitsunday region Using Water Quality Improvement Plans and report cards to direct priorities: pollutants and locations for management Emma Carlos Our Partnership are using both the report card and the relevant WQIPs to help prioritise management investment. Here is the story of how

Overview of the GBR, NRM Regions, Basins  with LTSP and WQIP covering these scales and Mackay-Whitsunday region  MW WQIP and report card covering the region

Regional Mackay-Whitsunday WQIP Regional Mackay-Whitsunday report card The framework: How it all fits together Ecologically relevant ecosystem health targets – seagrass, corals, wetlands, riparian Sub-catchment Regional GBR Reef 2050 Plan (GBR-wide, 2015) Management Action Targets GBR wide ecological requirements Agriculture; ground cover; riparian; urban; industry; wetlands; engagement Vision: Improving Outstanding Universal Value of GBR WHA 2050 water quality outcome: Reef WQ sustains the Outstanding Universal Value, builds resilience and improves ecosystem health over each successive decade Load reduction targets End of catchment land-sourced pollutants sediment, nutrients and pesticides (at relevant scales) Ecological requirements RIMReP Draft Reef WQIP (6 regions, 35 basins, 2018) Management Action Targets GBR wide ecological requirements Agriculture; urban; ground cover; riparian; industry; wetlands; engagement GBR report card Load reduction targets End of catchment land-sourced pollutants sediment, nutrients and pesticides Achievability Regional Mackay-Whitsunday WQIP (33 sub-catchments, 2014) Management Action Targets Sub-catchment scale achievability Agriculture; urban; industry & ports; riparian; wetlands Regional Mackay-Whitsunday report card (5 basins, 2014) The plans represent increasing level of detail Reef 2050 Plan GBR wide, holistic approach to improving outstanding value, includes but is not limited to water quality outcomes Draft Reef WQIP WQ focus, 6 regions and basins (35 GBR basins) MW WQIP sub-catchments (4/35 of the basins broken down into 33 sub-catchments) The plans set management action targets needed to achieve load reductions required for ecosystem health. So targets are based on ecosystem requirements. The Reef WQIP is the most recent (in draft) and action targets are two directional- have been guided by the Reef 2050 Plan so in meeting targets they will assist in meeting the Reef 2050 Plan targets. Regional WQIP also sets management action targets needed to achieve load reductions. These targets have not been directed by Reef wide targets, but instead are set based on achievability. So unidirectional arrow, in that these actions will contribute to meeting reef targets, but do not necessarily match these targets. Reporting programs and report cards assist in tracking progress of targets of the Plans. M-W report card does not explicitly track management actions and load targets, but gives an overarching view of ecosystem health  the ultimate end point of the WQIP

Differences between lines of evidence Reef WQIP Regional Mackay-Whitsunday WQIP Targets based on ecological requirements Basin scale targets Targets based on most up to date modelling Targets based on achievability Sub-catchment scale targets Targets based on different modelling Includes social and economic factors Should be used at sub-catchment scale Does not include the Don basin A reminder of the scale covered by the two WQIPs and the MW report card. Reef and regional WQIPs and report card do not completely align. We need to find commonalities.

Reef WQIP: Pollutants and priority basins across the GBR Ecologically relevant load reduction targets for the 35 GBR basins Five priority pollutants: DIN, fine sediment, PN, PP, Pesticides Relative priorities across 35 GBR basins Relative priority for water quality improvement Very High High Moderate Low Minimal Not assessed Scale DIN PN PP Fine sediment Pesticide Reduction (%) Reduction (tonnes/yr) Species protected (%) Don 30 75 43 55000   99 Proserpine 70 110 O’Connell 130 40 250 120 96000 Pioneer 140 20 61 23 35000 Plane 260 So what is the Reef WQIP telling us about the priorities in the Mackay Whitsundays? -sets targets of all 35 basins, also prioritises these 35 basins in terms of their relative priority for wq improvement for each pollutant. Based on priority basins for each of five priority pollutants across GBR: pesticides and DIN are highest priorities in MW and Plane and Pioneer the priority basins for these pollutants; Sediment and particulate nutrients are lower priorities and O’Connell is the priority basin for these pollutants. Notice that out of all the GBR basins, plane is the only basin where pesticides is a very high priority

Reef WQIP: Pollutants and priority basins in Mackay-Whitsunday Pollutants: Pesticides and DIN (Very High and High) Plane basin: Pesticides (Very High) and DIN (High) Pioneer basin: Pesticides (High) and DIN (Moderate) O’Connell basin: Pesticides (Moderate) and DIN (Moderate) Proserpine basin: Pesticides (not assessed) and DIN (Moderate) Don basin: Pesticides (not assessed) and DIN (Low) Pollutants: Sediment and particulate nutrients (Moderate and Low) O’Connell basin: Sediment (Moderate) and particulate nutrients (Moderate) Don and Plane basins: Sediment (Low) and particulate nutrients (Low) Pioneer and Proserpine basins: Sediment and particulate nutrients (no increase from current) Based on priority basins for each of five priority pollutants across GBR: pesticides and DIN are highest priorities in MW and Plane and Pioneer the priority basins for these pollutants; sediment and particulate nutrients are lower priorities and O’Connell is the priority basin for these pollutants.

Report card: Water quality in our basins Water Quality condition Plane Pioneer O’Connell Reef WQIP priorities Pollutants: Pesticides and DIN (Very High and High) Plane basin: Pesticides (Very High) and DIN (High) Pioneer basin: Pesticides (High) and DIN (Moderate) O’Connell basin: Pesticides (Moderate) and DIN (Moderate) Proserpine basin: Pesticides (not assessed) and DIN (Moderate) Don basin: Pesticides (not assessed) and DIN (Low) What is our other line of evidence saying about basin priorities? The report card wq condition results for basins match the order of priority that the Reef WQIP placed the basins

Regional Mackay-Whitsunday WQIP: Sub-catchment targets Sub-catchment scale (33 sub-catchments) Process to agreeing to targets based on achievability ecosystem health condition water quality condition load reduction management practice adoption ecosystem management Different modelling, scale and process used compared to Reef WQIP mean targets are not comparable Moving to our final line of evidence the regional WQIP, high level of detailed information and targets for each of the 33 sub-catchments, but modelling and approach to determining targets doesn’t match reef WQIP.

Summary: Priority pollutants and sub-catchments Prioritise sub-catchments by basins Plane (Rocky Dam, Alligator, Sandy) Pioneer (Pioneer, Mackay city) O’Connell (Blackrock, Murray) Proserpine (Myrtle, Lethebrook) Don Order sub-catchments based on magnitude of targets for regional pollutant priorities Pesticides DIN Sediment Particulate nutrients What does priority mean: where most change is needed and what is achievable How to best use information in Regional WQIP? To best use the information in the regional WQIP we considered what we have learnt in the Reef WQIP and report card around pollutant and basin priorities and ordered sub-catchments based on the magnitude of the relevant pollutant targets in each of the basins. Priority sub-catchments are the top 2-3 sub-catchments from each basin. This approach means some sub-catchments, where there is a high target for sediment, will not be listed as a key sub-catchment (like Blacks creek in Pioneer basin; Blacks creek- 93% grazing land, sediment delivers particulate nutrients). But part of the purpose of the forum is to allow discussion of this approach. Sub-catchments within basins ordered based on Pesticides and DIN targets thus sub-catchments will be prioritised based on  where most change is needed and what is achievable We will be looking for agreement among our 23 Partners on these priorities and will then move to identifying within a selection of these sub-catchments the priority management investments to address these priorities.

Thank you Our Partnership are using both the report card and the relevant WQIPs to help prioritise management investment. Here is the story of how