The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership (GHHP) proudly released the 2017 Gladstone Harbour Report Card on Tuesday 13 February 2018. Mr Paul Birch (GHHP Chair) officially released the report card to GHHP Partners and the community on a cruise around Gladstone Harbour.
The 2017 Gladstone Harbour Report Card presents the results of the testing of 99 measures across the four components of harbour health; environmental, social, cultural and economic. Monitoring for the 2017 report card was undertaken in Gladstone Harbour and the Gladstone Local Government Area, between July 2016 and June 2017.
Overall, the 2017 results were similar to those reported in 2016. Environmental Health received a C, Social and Economic Health both received B’s and Cultural Health received a C.
The 2017 report card, technical document and more detailed information are available throughout the GHHP website: ghhp.org.au/report-cards/2017
GHHP are excited to have released the second edition in the
Barry & Jenny storybook series; ‘Barry and Jenny’s Release: Gladstone
Harbour Report Card 2016’. The book follows Barry and Jenny’s journey around
the harbour as they visit some iconic landmarks in the Gladstone Region and
share the actual results from the 2016 report card with some Gladstone Harbour
locals. The second edition of the Barry and Jenny series was released on
Thursday 2 February 2017 and will again be distributed to schools in the
Gladstone Region.
The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership (GHHP) have contracted community organisations, Port Curtis Harbour Watch and the Boyne Tannum HookUp Association, to implement projects under the GHHP Citizen Science program.
Port Curtis Harbour Watch were provided funding by GHHP to undertake a water quality testing project. The project aims to expand the existing, largely school-based, environmental science program into a community citizen science program. Testing water quality in the harbour exists under the current harbour watch program, but through funding will be expanded to other areas in the broader catchment. The project outcomes are to increase awareness and knowledge of the general public to scientific water testing; and to expand the water quality testing to include parts of the broader catchment.
The Boyne Tannum HookUp Association were also awarded funding as a part of GHHP’s Citizen Science program. The Boyne Tannum HookUp Association will deliver the following four projects:
Fish Catch Data Project
InfoFish are commissioned to catch data for daily fish catches during the three day Boyne Tannum HookUp fishing competition. The data includes fish type, size and location caught through a by-catch and recreational fishing survey.
Marine Debris Clean Up Project
Two waste surveys and collections will be conducted prior to and after the Boyne Tannum HookUp fishing competition. This project would be undertaken with the support of the Boyne Tannum Scouts.
Marine Debris Sculpture Workshop
Over the three days of the event, marine debris from the pre event clean-up will be deposited at Bray Park for a sculpture workshop held for the general public. This project will be undertaken with the support of local artists and relevant organisations.
Barramundi Tracking Project
Barramundi in Awoonga Dam are to be tagged and tracked in anticipation for a spill over to determine the rate of survival, direction of travel and area inhabited in the harbour. This project will be undertaken with the support of GAWB and GPC to fund sonar equipment, boat, marine crew and public awareness campaign.
GHHP are excited for these two organisations to implement their citizen science projects and report back upon the completion of this year’s program.
In July 2016, GHHP welcomed
the appointment of our new Independent Science Panel Chair, John Rolfe. John is
a resource economist who has specialised in the use of choice modelling and
other non-market valuation techniques. He is Professor in the Faculty of Arts,
Business, Informatics and Education and a member of the Centre for
Environmental Management at the Central Queensland University. John has a number
of research interests, including regional development, environmental, resource
and agricultural economic issues, resource trade-offs, and economic impact
assessment in regional areas.
The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership (GHHP) proudly released the Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2015 on 1 February 2016. The report card was officially released by The Hon Dr Steven Miles MP in front of GHHP Partners and community members.
The Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2015 reports on the monitoring results of the environmental, economic, social and cultural health of the harbour.
The Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2015 is based on the results of the testing of 78 measures across the four components of harbour health between July 2014 and June 2015. This is a much wider data set and suite of indicators than what was seen in the Pilot Report Card 2014.
Overall the Gladstone Harbour report Card 2015 results indicate that the environmental health of Gladstone Harbour is a ‘C’, social health is also a ‘C’, economic health is a ‘B’ and cultural health is also a ‘B’.
For a copy of the 2015 report card, technical document and more detailed information, visit the ‘Report Cards’ section on this website.
GHHP is seeking feedback on the 2015 report card from the community and stakeholders; if you wish to be a part of this, go to the ‘Report Cards’ tab and click on the ‘Have your say’ button.
Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership Chair Paul Birch releases a fortnightly column to The Gladstone Observer, The Advocate and Gladstone News Weekly.
Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership Chair Paul Birch releases a fortnightly column to The Gladstone Observer, The Advocate and Gladstone News Weekly.
Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership Chair Paul Birch releases a fortnightly column to The Gladstone Observer, The Advocate and Gladstone News Weekly.
Environmental values (EVs) and water quality objectives (WQOs) for Capricorn-Curtis Coast region waters (including Gladstone Harbour), finalised in November 2014, are now included in Schedule 1 of the Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009—the EPP Water.
Consultation on EVs was carried out from 2012 to 2014, including public release of draft EVs and WQOs in 2014. The Fitzroy Basin Association worked collaboratively with the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection in developing EVs for the Capricorn Curtis Coast region waters.
The waters include: the Styx, Shoalwater and Water Park Creek Basins, Keppel Bay, the Boyne, Calliope and Curtis Island Basins, including Gladstone Harbour, the Narrows, lower Fitzroy estuary and adjacent Great Barrier Reef coastal waters.
The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership (GHHP) launched their Pilot Report Card on the December 4 2014 in the Leo Zussino Building at Central Queensland University. The Report Card is a culmination of 12 months of work by the Partnership that reports on the environmental, social and economic health of Gladstone Harbour.
The GHHP launch played host to industry, government and community representatives as well as dignitaries including Minister for Environment and Heritage Protection Andrew Powell, Member for Gladstone Liz Cunningham and Gladstone Mayor Gail Sellers.
Overall, the Pilot Report Card results indicate that environmental health of the Gladstone Harbour is a ‘C’, social health of the Gladstone Harbour is also a ‘C’ and the economic health of the Gladstone Harbour is a ‘B’. Environmental results vary across the Harbour Zones with the best results appearing in the Inner Harbour and the worst results in Auckland Inlet.
The launch of the Pilot Report Card was followed by a Community Consultation Session run by GHHP where various representatives from community and environmental organisations were presented with details of the grades and findings.
The Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership is seeking feedback from the community and stakeholders on the 2014 Pilot Report Card to improve the reporting process for the final version in 2015. Visit the GHHP website to view the Gladstone Harbour 2014 Pilot Report Card and to have your say, go to www.ghhp.org.au.
