River rates highly as a healthy habitat

THE Noosa Council has welcomed Noosa River’s result in this year’s Healthy Waterways Report Card, launched yesterday, with the famous river receiving an A- score for its combined estuarine and freshwater health – making it South East Queensland’s healthiest river.
The Noosa River catchment also scored four and a half stars out of a possible five in a newly introduced scoring system reflecting social and economic indicators.
Healthy Waterways CEO Julie McLellan said Noosa waterways are in excellent environmental condition.
“The local community receives very high social and economic benefits from them,” she said.
“Excellent freshwater riparian and estuarine habitats are supporting numerous economic benefits through waterway recreation, particularly fishing.”
Cr Tony Wellington, representing the council at the announcement, said the results were great news for the community.
“This is a fantastic result, but of course there is always room for improvement,“ Cr Wellington said.
“To this end, we’re pleased to partner with the Thomas Foundation and the Nature Conservancy on an oyster reef pilot study, and research into historic prawn and fish productivity.
“Our aim is to determine baseline targets and then to improve aquatic biodiversity and fish abundance.
“The council appreciates Noosa River’s environmental significance and its value to the local community. That’s why we have tasked our community jury with considering how this wonderful waterway might be better managed, and the role the council should play in that management.”
Low pollutant loads, excellent riparian vegetation resulting in excellent stream health, and excellent estuarine habitat contributed to Noosa River’s A- rating.
Very high economic benefits generated through waterway recreation, and excellent economic benefits generated through recreational fishing contributed to the four-and-a-half-star rating.
The social indicators showed that the community valued the waterway very highly and rated its ability to use the waterway very highly.