TOWNSVILLE-BASED REEF RESEARCH SETTING GLOBAL STANDARDS

The community must remain forever vigilant in its defence of the Great Barrier Reef, Member for Mundingburra and Minister for Environment Lindy Nelson-Carr said today.

Speaking at the first public symposium for the Townsville-based Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Ms Nelson-Carr said the centre had a major role internationally as a leader in reef research.

“The centre is guiding the management, sustainable use and conservation of coral reef biodiversity, and will continue to research marine issues of global significance including climate change.

“Queensland is a leader in international marine science and the research from this Centre of Excellence will help ensure the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park continues to be managed to world’s best practice.

“This is also important to protect tourism and fisheries on the Great Barrier Reef which contribute $5.8 billion annually to Australia’s economy and generates employment for 63,000 people.”

Ms Nelson-Carr said the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan was an important partnership to halt and reverse by 2013 the 400 per cent increase in reef pollution since European settlement.

“This is a challenging objective but one which we must achieve.

“I will be seeking advice in coming months on how we can identify the highest risk catchments draining to the Great Barrier Reef and then focus government and community investment at protecting the reef.

“In the last State Budget, the Beattie Government provided an additional $12 million over four years and $3.5 million a year thereafter to improve the day-to-day management operations of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

“This funding has been provided on the expectation that the Australian Government will provide matching funding so that we jointly can ensure that the management of the Great Barrier Reef is maintained at world’s best practice.”

Ms Nelson-Carr said Queensland-based scientists already led the way in the field of marine science.

“According to ISI Essential Science Indicators, James Cook University (JCU), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and University of Queensland (UQ) rank first, second and 15th in the world, among 1644 institutions in 103 countries for citations in coral reef science from 1994-2004,” she said.

“This is fabulous news and something we should all be very proud of.

“The establishment of this centre of excellence will allow that information and knowledge to be shared across the world.”

The centre is a partnership of JCU, AIMS, the Australian National University (ANU), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and UQ.

Media contact: Karla Steen 3336 8004 or Andie Gatti 3336 8002