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Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017 - Technical Report
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Building on the 2016 report card, the Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017 has been informed by 99 measures of the four components of harbour health: environmental, social, cultural and economic. This report card is based on data collected during the period from July 2016 to June 2017. As GHHP continues to expand and refine its monitoring programs, additional measures will become available. For further details visit: http://ghhp.org.au/report-cards/2017.
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Report cards have become an increasingly popular way to measure the current status and the progress
towards meeting environmental and ecosystem health goals. Most report cards focus on the biophysical
components of the system, however including the social and economic implications of ecosystem
management provides a richer social‐ecological system understanding. The Gladstone Healthy Harbour
Partnership (GHHP) report card goes beyond ecosystem health to include reporting on progress towards
social, cultural and economic goals for the Gladstone region.
By assessing the social health of the harbour using some selected indicators, this report card provides a
snapshot of harbour health from community perspectives. In order to assess the social health of the
harbour, eight sub‐indicators were aggregated into three indicator groups: harbour usability, harbour
access, and liveability and wellbeing. The cultural component with the exception of indigenous culture has
one indicator group, sense of place, which is aggregated from six sub‐indicators. Economic health
component is also assessed with eight indicators aggregated into three indicator groups being economic
stimulus, economic performance and recreational value. All sub‐indicators are comprised of between two
and four measures.
The GHHP vision includes detailed statements relating to environmental, social, cultural and economic
aspects of the health of Gladstone harbour. The vision was developed by the local Gladstone community,
including Traditional Owners, community members, government, research organisations, conservation
groups, both recreational and commercial fishers and industry.
The objective of this study was to assess the extent and describe the nature of a multispecies marine finfish and crustacean disease event that occurred in Gladstone Harbour, Australia, 2011-2012. Finfish were examined for this study in January to April 2012 from sites where diseased animals were previously observed by the public. Gross abnormalities, including excessive skin and gill mucus, erythema, heavy ecto-parasitism, cutaneous ulceration, corneal opacity, and exophthalmos, were higher (25.5%) in finfish from Gladstone Harbour (n = 435) than in those from an undeveloped reference site, 250 km to the north (5.5%, n = 146, p < 0.0001). Microscopic abnormalities, especially non-infectious erosive to ulcerative dermatitis and internal parasitism, were more prevalent in fish from Gladstone Harbour (n = 34 of 36, prevalence = 94.4%) than in fish from the reference site (3 of 23, prevalence = 13.0% p < 0.0001). The prevalence of shell lesions was higher in mud crabs Scylla serrata sampled from Gladstone Harbour (270 of 718, prevalence = 37.5%) than from the reference site (21 of 153, prevalence = 13.7%; p < 0.0001). The significantly higher prevalence of ulcerative skin disease and parasitism in a range of species suggests affected animals were subjected to influences in Gladstone Harbour that were not present in the control sites. The disease epidemic coincided temporally and spatially with water quality changes caused by a harbour development project. The unique hydrology, geology, and industrial history of the harbour, the scope of the development of the project, and the failure of a bund wall built to retain dredge spoil sediment were important factors contributing to this epidemic.
The mud crab Scylla serrata is a highly exploited species, associated to mangrove ecosystems in the Indo-West-Pacific. It has a complex life cycle with a dispersing larvae phase, and benthic juveniles and adults. The former are stenohaline depending on high-salinity conditions to survive, whereas the latter are physiologically well adapted to changing temperatures and salinities, conditions that typically occur in mangrove habitats. Movement and habitat use of large juveniles and adults are well studied, and these life stages are known to utilize and move between various habitats within the mangrove ecosystem: intertidal flats as well as subtidal channels and flats. Females undertake long movements from brackish inshore waters to waters with oceanic conditions for spawning. Sensory abilities—of early stages and adult stages—have hardly been studied, and little is known about larval and early benthic stages in the wild. Summarizing, the literature revealed substantial gaps in the understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the different life stages and of the clues that trigger recruitment, movement, and other behavior. This is the first comprehensive review on the life history, movement patterns, habitat use, and systemic role of S. serrata with emphasis on the respective life stages and geographic differences. We emphasize the need for further research into these processes as a basis for the sustainable management and conservation of this species.
The tailings dam breach at the Ajka alumina plant, western Hungary in 2010 introduced ∼1 million m3 of red mud suspension into the surrounding area. Red mud (fine fraction bauxite residue) has a characteristically alkaline pH and contains several potentially toxic elements, including arsenic. Aerobic and anaerobic batch experiments were prepared using soils from near Ajka in order to investigate the effects of red mud addition on soil biogeochemistry and arsenic mobility in soil-water experiments representative of land affected by the red mud spill. XAS analysis showed that As was present in the red mud as As(V) in the form of arsenate. The remobilisation of red mud associated arsenate was highly pH dependant and the addition of phosphate to red mud suspensions greatly enhanced As release to solution. In aerobic batch experiments, where red mud was mixed with soils, As release to solution was highly dependent on pH. Carbonation of these alkaline solutions by dissolution of atmospheric CO2 reduced pH, which resulted in a decrease of aqueous As concentrations over time. However, this did not result in complete removal of aqueous As in any of the experiments. Carbonation did not occur in anaerobic experiments and pH remained high. Aqueous As concentrations initially increased in all the anaerobic red mud amended experiments, and then remained relatively constant as the systems became more reducing, both XANES and HPLC-ICP-MS showed that no As reduction processes occurred and that only As(V) species were present. These experiments show that there is the potential for increased As mobility in soil-water systems affected by red mud addition under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.
Metal risk assessment of industrialised harbours and coastal marine waters requires the application of robust water quality guidelines to determine the likelihood of biological impacts. Currently there is no such guideline available for aluminium in marine waters. A water quality guideline of 24 μg total Al/L has been developed for aluminium in marine waters based on chronic 10 % inhibition or effect concentrations (IC10 or EC10) and no observed effect concentrations (NOEC) from 11 species (2 literature values and 9 species tested including temperate and tropical species) representing 6 taxonomic groups. The three most sensitive species tested were a diatom Ceratoneis closterium (formerly Nitzschia closterium) (IC10=18 μg Al/L, 72-h growth rate inhibition) < mussel Mytilus edulis plannulatus (EC10=250 μg Al/L, 72-h embryo development) < oyster Saccostrea echinata (EC10=410 μg Al/L, 48-h embryo development). Toxicity to these species was caused by the dissolved aluminium forms of aluminate (Al(OH4-) and aluminium hydroxide (Al(OH)30) while both dissolved and particulate aluminium contributed to toxicity in the diatom Minutocellus polymorphus and green alga Dunaliella tertiolecta. In contrast, aluminium toxicity to the green flagellate alga Tetraselmis sp. was due to particulate aluminium only. Four species, a brown macroalga (Hormosira banksii), sea urchin embryo (Heliocidaris tuberculata) and two juvenile fish species (Lates calcarifer and Acanthochromis polyacanthus), were not adversely affected at the highest test concentration used. Environ Toxicol Chem © 2014 SETAC
Report cards are an increasingly popular method for summarising and communicating relative environmental performance and ecosystem health, including in aquatic environments. They are usually underpinned by an Ecosystem Health Index (EHI) that combines various individual indicators to produce an overall ecosystem health “score”. As a result of public water quality concerns, an integrated means of monitoring and reporting on aquatic ecosystem health was needed for the Fitzroy Basin in central Queensland, Australia. The Fitzroy Partnership for River Health was formed to address this need, and developed an EHI and report card for the Basin using existing monitoring data collected from various third parties including regulated companies operations and government. At 142,000 square kilometres, the Fitzroy Basin is the largest catchment draining to the World Heritage Listed Great Barrier Reef. The Fitzroy Basin provides an example of how to deliver an effective aquatic ecosystem health reporting system in a large and complex river basin. We describe the methodology used to develop an adaptive EHI for the Fitzroy Basin that addresses variability, complexity and scale issues associated with reporting across large areas. As well, we report how to manage the design and reporting stages given limitations in data collection and scientific understanding.
Nickel is a metal of widespread distribution in the environment: there are almost 100 minerals of which it is an essential constituent and which have many industrial and commercial uses. Nickel and nickel compounds belong to the classic noxious agents encountered in industry but are also known to affect non-occupationally exposed individuals. The general population may be exposed to nickel in the air, water and food. Inhalation is an important route of occupational exposure to nickel in relation to health risks. Most nickel in the human body originates from drinking water and food; however, the gastrointestinal route is of lesser importance, due to its limited intestinal absorption. The toxicity and carcinogenicity of some nickel compounds (in the nasal cavity, larynx and lungs) in experimental animals, as well as in the occupationally exposed population, are well documented. The objective of this paper is to summarize the current overview of the occurrence and sources of nickel in the environment, and the effect of this metal and its compounds on living organisms. As this topic is very broad, this review is briefly concerned with the toxicokinetics of nickel, its health effects and biological monitoring.