Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership

Gladstone Harbour: A working port rich in marine resources

QUEENSLAND'S LARGEST MULTI-COMMODITY PORT

THE GLADSTONE HEALTHY HARBOUR PARTNERSHIP (GHHP) IS PROUD TO RELEASE THE

Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017

The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership (GHHP) has been working for the past twelve months to present its third annual report card to the community and stakeholders. The 2017 report card contains the results from the testing of 99 measures within the four components of harbour health: environmental, economic, social, and cultural and presents the evidence based findings to the community in an understandable manner.

The 2017 report card includes, for the first time; mud crabs, coral cover change and sediment mercury within the environmental component. All social, economic, and cultural indicators and measures remain unchanged from those used in the 2016 report card.

Overall, the Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017 results indicate that the environmental health of Gladstone Harbour is a ‘C’, cultural health of Gladstone Harbour is also a ‘C’, the social health of Gladstone Harbour is a ‘B’ and the economic health of Gladstone Harbour is also a ‘B’.

Inside the 2017 GHHP Technical Report

The 2017 GHHP Technical Report provides comprehensive details and statistics to support the Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017. The technical report contains detailed results and explanations for grades and scores, as well as how the grading system is applied to determine the results for each component.

The technical report not only explains the drivers and pressures that could influence monitoring and testing, but also includes the reporting period in which testing was undertaken.

Scores and grades for social, economic, and cultural indicators are all included in the technical report. This includes a full overview (including maps) of all environmental grades and scores for each of the 13 zones, along with each of the measurement levels.

WANT TO
KNOW MORE?

The GHHP Education Resource Kit contains activities and assessment pieces that form part of the school curriculum for students from prep to grade 12.

The kit aims to provide students of all ages with an understanding of the health testing taking place in the Gladstone Harbour.

2017 GHHP Research Highlights

GLADSTONE HARBOUR MODEL

Developed by the CSIRO and completed in 2017, the Gladstone Harbour Model will enable GHHP to model the environmental, social, and economic health of the harbor. The ability to model potential futures will help to understand annual report card results and provide a tool to explore potential management options.

The model has fully functional hydrology, food-web and human sectors.

FISH HEALTH

Fish are key biological indicators of environmental condition, as they are inevitable exposed to any changes in aquatic ecosystems. GHHP already monitors fish recruitment in Gladstone Harbour (the breeding performance of the two bream species) and in 2018 will include new measures of fish health in the report card to complete the fish and crab indicator. This new project will provide scores for fish health and improve our understanding of fish stocks within the harbor.

GHHP CORAL CORING

Cores are taken from skeletons of long-lived massive corals provide annually dated growth and records of environmental conditions including flooding and human impacts. GHHP in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is undertaking a coral coring study in Gladstone Harbour to study environmental conditions in the harbor dating back to the early 1900’s. Coral cores have already been collected from around the harbor and geochemical analysis of the cores is underway. The study will be completed in early 2018.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and sea in the Port Curtis Coral Coast region, the Gurang, Gooreng Gooreng, Taribelang Bunda and Bailai people, and pays respect to the ancestors, the Elders both past and present, and to the people.