Marine expert
Marine expert offers Moreton Bay lessons from across the seas
World-renowned marine scientist Dr Bill Dennison has advised Queenslanders of the importance of learning from the USA’s Chesapeake Bay experience to properly protect the Moreton Bay Marine Park.
Speaking on his visit to Brisbane for the 10th International River Symposium, the Vice President for Science Applications at the University of Maryland, USA, said Moreton Bay can avoid incurring a potentially massive economic cost by learning the lessons of the past.
"Preserving an ecosystem like Moreton Bay Marine Park is much more cost effective than restoring a degraded system," Dr Dennison said.
Through his work on the south-east Queensland Healthy Waterways program, Dr Dennison has extensively studied the Moreton Bay Marine Park and its unique array of habitats and wildlife.
On the USA’s east coast, Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the world at more than 300 kilometres in length – and Dr Dennison is currently leading its multi-billion dollar restoration project.
Marine expert Dr Bill Dennison was in
Brisbane recently and offered important
advice on managing Moreton Bay.
EPA photo
"Chesapeake has suffered significant environmental damage over the past 30 years as a result of the region’s expanding population," Dr Dennison said.
"The restoration program commenced in 1983 after research highlighted the urgent need to address the Bay’s excessive nutrient levels, dwindling seagrass colonies and pollution issues.
"What we see at Chesapeake Bay, which is historically one of the most productive estuaries in the world, is the impacts of human development.
"More than $34 billion is now being spent to restore the degraded ecosystem to its former glory – vastly more expensive than protecting the marine resources in the first place.
"The diversity of life in Moreton Bay is staggering because of its unique bio-geographical position," Dr Dennison said.
"We have the east-Australian currents of tropical waters rushing into Moreton Bay, so that we have mangroves and seagrass, coral, dugong and turtles that you can’t find further south.
"Moreton Bay is on the world map. It’s an iconic, magnetic place for people to study and researchers from across the world will be watching what happens with the review of the park’s zoning plan."
Moreton Bay has the advantage of not having the severe degradation of 400 years of European settlement that Chesapeake Bay had.
"This is an opportunity to protect it so we don’t end up with the same problems – and the same huge clean up bill that have plagued Chesapeake Bay," Dr Dennison said.
For more information on the Moreton Bay Marine Park Zoning Plan, log onto www.epa.qld.gov.au.
Main news
Last updated: 27 September 2007
