WetlandCare Australia continue their commitment to Protecting the Ramsar Wetlands of Bowling Green Bay Project
WetlandCare Australia, NQ Dry Tropics and Burdekin Shire Council have joined forces to work with landholders to increase biodiversity and improve water quality within the catchments that flow into Bowling Green Bay. Bowling Green Bay contains examples of the richest coastal habitats typical of north-eastern Australia’s coastal wet-dry tropics. The wetlands are diverse and include intertidal seagrass beds, mangrove and saltpan communities and forested, brackish and freshwater swamps.
Nine species of mangrove grow in the wetland, providing a nursery and shelter for fish, mud crabs and prawns. The bays mangrove communities trap tide-borne sediments and help control coastal erosion. The mangroves provide vital protection from strong winds, tidal surges and heavy rainfall associated with cyclones which occasionally affect this part of Queensland’s coast line.
Bowling Green Bay is an extensive baitfish breeding ground and recreational fish species, such as black marlin, sailfish and Spanish mackerel feed here. The lowland section of Bowling Green Bay National Park is home to rich and varied birdlife and is listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It is also a feeding ground for the endangered loggerhead turtle and rare and threatened wildlife such as the Green turtle, Dugong, Eastern Curlew and Little Tern.
Bowling Green Bay is a feeding ground for the Little Tern; listed as Endangered in Queensland. Photograph by Adam Gosling
Through the "Protecting the Ramsar Wetlands of Bowling Green Bay Project", land holders are offered incentive based grants for on ground works to: control Weeds of National Significance (WONS); fence degraded wetlands; utilise livestock for seasonal grazing; undertake revegetation projects and reduce the feral pig population.
WetlandCare Australia in partnership with NQ Dry Tropics will also be working with landholders to achieve the following positive environmental outcomes within the catchments that flow into Bowling Green Bay:
- Obtain 50 Land Management Agreements;
- Fence1,000 hectares of priority riparian habitat for livestock control;
- Control WONS across 5,000 hectares of wetlands;Revegetate 100 hectares of impacted wetlands;
- Remove 50% of the feral pig population from priority areas within Ramsar wetlands and buffering catchments;
- Promote benefits of healthy wetlands to the wider community;
- Collect data including mapping of feral pig numbers and distribution; and
- Provide training to improve skills of landholders on wetland management practices and sustainable farming.
The lowland section of Bowling Green Bay National Park is home to rich and varied birdlife. Photograph provided by NQ Dry Tropics Land and Water Solutions.
For more information contact Scott Fry, WetlandCare Australia Senior Project Officer in Townsville on (07) 4724 3544 or email scottfry@wetlandcare.com.au.
PAST PROJECTS: Rehabilitating Burdekin's Billabongs and Bowling Green Bay Catchments
Wetland works continue! WetlandCare Australia in partnership with North Queensland Dry Tropics and many other significant stakeholders in the Burdekin have been successful in securing funds for the regions wetlands through the Australian Government Open Grants round.
Funding received were used to raise awareness, rehabilitate and protect priority wetland sites across the Burdekin floodplain, an important northern Queensland wetland aggregate with direct connectivity to the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage area and Bowling Green Bay, a Ramsar wetlands site of international importance.
Wetlands of the Burdekin floodplain have been degraded by a range of threats, particularly changed hydrological regimes, ever increasing weed populations, dis-connectivity of wetlands, cleared riparian buffers, erosion and sedimentation. This project addressed these by informing and training landholders, industry groups and the community in the latest knowledge about best management practice (BMP) of wetlands.
The project also implemented on-ground works to address these issues at priority sites to improve the functionality of priority wetlands in the Burdekin catchment. These actions have also assisted in delivering improved water quality to the Great Barrier Reef. This project has improved biodiversity in the region through the protection, improved connectivity and rehabilitation of wetland habitats critical to the survival of nationally threatened and migratory bird species.
This project also informed and engaged the community in the importance of aquatic habitats in their local region. Increased community knowledge, resulting in combined community action has improved the health of internationally recognised aquatic habitats including; Great Barrier Reef, Bowling Green Bay and nationally recognised wetlands including; Barratta Channels Aggregation, Burdekin-Townsville Coastal Aggregation, Burdekin Delta Aggregation and The Serpentine Aggregation (all listed in the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia).This project protects and improves critical fish habitat areas including Bowling Green Bay and Burdekin as nominated by Queensland DPI&F.
WetlandCare Australia hopes to continue this work on these important wetland areas in the North Queensland Dry Tropics area into the future. For more information about this or future wetlands projects in this region, please contact Senior Project Coordinator, Cassie Price on 02 66816169 or cassieprice@wetlandcare.com.au.