Whitsunday water quality monitoring blueprint for tourism operators
Whitsunday water quality monitoring blueprint for tourism operators
TropWATER researchers Dr Nathan Waltham and Dr Jordan Iles are engaged with tourism operators to initiate a citizen science water quality monitoring project in the Whitsunday Region. This citizen science project brings together partners from a cross section of the Whitsunday community, the Partners include Reef Catchments, the Mackay-Issac-Whitsunday Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership, North Queensland Bulk Ports, TropWATER (Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research) at James Cook University (JCU), and Whitsunday Tourism Operators – Whitsunday Bareboat Operators Association, Whitsunday Charter Boat Industry Association.
This project focuses on utilising proven research, science experience and methodology to train Whitsunday tourism operators to collect marine monitoring data at key locations they have identified across the region. Monitoring began in February 2020 and under this pilot program will continue through to July 2021. Specialised training provided by TropWATER is placing tourism operators in a strong position to continue monitoring beyond the life of the pilot program. The data will be shared among Partners, the community and communicated through the annual regional report card produced by the Mackay-Issac-Whitsunday Healthy Rivers to Reef Partnership.
The Whitsunday Water Quality Monitoring Blueprint for Tourism Operators is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
