2017-01-16 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                16 JANUARY 2017


A census of migratory shorebirds between 2005-07 revealed the river mouth, sandbanks and
adjoining Noosa North Shore is an area of ‘National and International Importance’ under criteria
set by the National Plan for Shorebird Conservation in Australia. A total of 43 species of birds were
recorded during the study period with several species protected under international agreements
between Australia and China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, and the Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention).
In September 2007, the Noosa Shire was designated as a biosphere region by the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Man and the Biosphere
Programme, which was a first for Queensland.
Threats and Challenges
A number of key threats affecting the Noosa River catchment are common to waterways
management across the region and include:
   Managing the quality of rural and urban runoff;
   Accommodating population growth and demand; and
   Preparing for climate change.
Rural and urban runoff
An ongoing challenge within the Noosa River catchment is to reduce the impacts of rural and urban
runoff.
In rural areas, historically vegetated catchments have typically been replaced by agricultural land
uses, sealed and unsealed roads. Runoff from these areas contains elevated quantities of
sediment, nutrients and chemical and microbial contaminants such as fertilisers, pesticides and
animal faeces, as well as litter, which wash into waterways when it rains.
Urban runoff is a mixture of treated and untreated stormwater. It is delivered to waterways via the
stormwater network and can contain sediment, nutrients, litter, petrochemicals, detergents,
pesticides, fertilisers and faecal matter from domestic and native wildlife.
Urban catchments also have large areas of impervious surfaces such as sealed roads, roofs, car
parks, driveways and paving. These surfaces deliver more runoff to waterways and at a greater
velocity than bushland, and can have significant adverse impacts on the health and amenity of
waterways through erosion, declining water quality, litter and direct harm to marine life and
seabirds (via ingestion or entanglement of littered plastics, in particular).
Population growth and demand
With a growing population comes proportional demand in water-based and tourism activities.
Whilst the influx of visitors and holiday makers contributes significantly to the Noosa economy, the
growing levels of on-river activity and increased demand for infrastructure have the potential to
negatively impact on the environment and amenity values of the catchment and distract from the
user’s enjoyment of the waterways.
In 2009, due to increasing competition between on-water activities the Noosa River Marine Zones
were established by a former Noosa Council. These zones impose prohibitions and restrictions on
certain types of activities e.g. seaplanes, hovercraft are prohibited from operating in the river and
personal Jet Ski use is restricted.
Population growth can also place fisheries resources under pressure, in both a commercial and
recreational sense, through over exploitation, depletion of fish stocks and habitat disturbances.




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