Publication (Annual report): CRCFE Annual Report 2002-2003

Publication Type:	Annual report
Publication Name:	CRCFE Annual Report 2002-2003

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CRC for Freshwater Ecology (2003) CRCFE Annual Report 2002-2003, CRCFE, Canberra.

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CRC for Freshwater Ecology
ANNUAL REPORT 2002-2003

(Report in PDF format attached above)

Foreword
by Board Chair Dr John Langford

The year 2002-2003 has been unique in the history of water use in Australia. Against a background of extreme drought across the country, water availability and management have become topics of national interest. The newspapers, particularly, have carried numerous articles and letters dealing with water rights, real and perceived, environmental flows and water restrictions.

It has been a year in which wise leadership was needed to guide water policy, and a year in which the CRC for Freshwater Ecology (CRCFE) has been able to provide significant advice to policy-makers, based on its large and growing knowledge-base.

With its new Chief Executive, Professor Gary Jones, at the helm the CRCFE has had a shift in emphasis during 2002-2003. From being a leader in the conservation of river environments it has now become a leader that also acknowledges the importance of the human communities that use our rivers and river environments. Little can be achieved in the push for long-term sustainable water resources unless there is cooperation between these user groups and scientists, managers and policy makers.

Within the CRCFE, Gary has encouraged staff to develop three main foci: landscape-scale (and multi-user) thinking; advice not advocacy; and the importance of win-win outcomes. These three foci are evident in the new portfolio of research projects that the program leaders and advisory committees have developed during the year. For example, existing studies on single rivers are now being linked together and expanded to landscape scale. The similarities and differences between rivers like these will now guide the CRCFE as it develops principles for managing types of rivers and riverine landscapes.

The new portfolio consists of ten multidisciplinary core projects. Between them they aim to establish clearly the benefits of environmental flows. Several projects will advance our understanding of the effects on ecology and sustainability when structures and processes break the natural continuity of flow and water quality between tributaries and main streams. Two projects are investigating effects of salinity, and ways of predicting the spread of invasive species into our freshwater environments. The management of urban water ecology is continuing to be examined. Finally, the CRCFE’s AUSRIVAS methods and models are being compared to other biological means of rapidly assessing water quality.

The Narran Lakes project (in partnership with, and funded by, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission), investigating freshwater ecology in the Narran Lakes on the Lower Balonne Floodplain, is a significant addition to the CRCFE’s new research portfolio. The project is an excellent example of applying landscape-scale thinking, advice not advocacy, and win-win outcomes all at once, and it is to be hoped that its final results will point the way to sustainability and cooperation as other river resources, particularly in northern Australia, are developed in the future.

The CRCFE is entering the last three years of its second term. However, scientists, water managers and policy makers would agree that much work remains to be done in studies of freshwater ecology, particularly at the landscape and whole-of-basin scales that are often beyond the scope of state water agencies. Cooperative research in this field, across state borders, really began when the CRCFE was set up in 1993, and developed strongly under the leadership of Professor Peter Cullen. Now the drive of Gary Jones is supporting the CRCFE staff as they maintain and increase the relevance of the CRCFE’s work to communities and policy-makers. I would like to thank Gary and the program leaders for their enormous commitment to the present CRCFE and its partners, and for their vision of the scale of achievements that are possible and necessary.

Finally, I thank the members of the Board and the program advisory committees, as well as the staff of the CRCFE, for their hard work and generosity of spirit throughout the year.

Chief Executive's report
by Professor Gary Jones

Over the life of the current CRC for Freshwater Ecology (CRCFE) we have developed an integrated strategy of high quality research focused on the management of Australia’s inland river systems and innovative knowledge synthesis and exchange. The success of this integrated strategy has seen the CRCFE front and centre in several major public policy and decision processes during 2002-2003.

Our scientists and knowledge brokers have worked together under immense public and political scrutiny on a draft interim scientific report on the Living Murray environmental flows process. The draft report is expected be delivered on schedule, for review by a panel of international scientists and then consideration by the Ministerial Council in November 2003.

This summer saw the nation’s water resources severely stressed by drought. In the ACT, CRCFE scientists provided vital advice to the ACT Government which enabled an agreement to be reached on an appropriate environmental flows regime below the Territory’s major water-supply dams. This allowed revisions to the short-term water security predictions for the Territory at a time when severe measures were being contemplated.

In Victoria, the CRCFE’s scientists worked closely with the Department of Sustainability & Environment on the development of the Sustainable Diversions Limits agreement that helped water management in unregulated and ungauged streams across the State.

In the CRCFE, we continue to produce innovative research to support major environmental outcomes. CRCFE scientist Dr Chris Walsh (Monash University), with collaborators from the CRC for Catchment Hydrology, has for the first time provided clear evidence for links between hydraulic connectivity (via the stormwater drainage system) and stream condition in urban catchments. This finding has the potential to revolutionise ecologically sustainable urban planning and development. Chris was the recipient of the 2002 CRCFE Chairman’s Award.

It was a good year for awards for CRCFE staff. In August, Debbie Heck, leader of our education program, was part of a Griffith University team that won the Australian Museum’s Allen Strom Eureka Prize for environmental education. Then Associate Professor Bill Maher of University of Canberra won the rarely awarded Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s Analytical Chemistry Medal - it is only the sixth time it has been awarded. Associate Professor Martin Thoms (University of Canberra) won the prize for Innovation in Geomorphology at the Binghampton Geomorphology Symposium in Pennsylvania. Dr Darren Baldwin was awarded the Macquarie University School of Law Prize for International Environmental Law (2003). The team from the Arthur Rylah Institute (Victoria) who resnagged a section of the River Murray won the DNRE’s David Ashton Biodiversity and Ecosystem award. Centenary Medals were awarded to Professor Barry Hart and Professor Peter Cullen as well as two senior members of our Board - Dr John Langford and Mr Don Blackmore - for services to Australian society. At the University of Canberra, Dr Nancy FitzSimmons and Associate Professor Bill Maher were awarded Vice Chancellor’s Distinction Awards for 2003. And several CRCFE postgraduate students won awards for excellence in presentations at conferences during the year.

We have continued to expand our role of capacity building and value adding in the education of Australia’s future water researchers and water resources professionals. In addition to our on-going training of all postgraduate students in project management, communications and media skills, we have undertaken new speciality training in topics such as GIS applications in freshwater ecology. Also this year, all new postgraduate students have adopted an ‘industry mentor’ from one of our partner agencies. The industry mentor will help foster an understanding of the demands of water resources management and an appreciation of the environment in which Australia’s water managers operate. Our aim is to produce a more mature early career scientist with a better understanding of the role of an environmental scientist in 21st century society. We believe this is an important and innovative initiative that will pay dividends for our graduates and industry partners in the coming years.

After broad consultation amongst our staff and partners, and external peer review, we have embarked on our Phase 2 research project portfolio, which will take us through to the end of the current CRCFE in 2006. Key strategic drivers for the research portfolio are: increasing our ability to predict ecological outcomes of management actions; development of a landscape approach to ecological research and management; and searching for quantitative relationships between environmental factors and ecological condition. Building capacity in ecological prediction & decision systems, and landscape ecology & management will be important aspects of a CRCFE rebid which we are expecting to develop during the coming year.

For me, our growing and effective influence on public policy outcomes is a key measure of the benefits of a healthy and functional CRC. Investment in a CRC is not just an investment in high quality research and knowledge. An effective CRC has a cross-organisation knowledge management strategy that allows it to put its knowledge assets to effective use. Our scientific networks and knowledge exchange methods provide a mechanism for rapid review and synthesis of available knowledge that often may be spread across many scientists in different states and territories. This enables timely delivery of answers to many of the tough environmental management questions being posed by government or regional managers.

However, we certainly cannot be complacent or rest on our laurels. My aim is to stimulate the continuing evolution of a new level of scientific maturity - one that values scientific teams and embraces a culture of ‘problem solving’ - not just ‘problem defining’. I will be encouraging all our staff to accept this challenge.

It has been an interesting year for many reasons. I thank Professor Peter Cullen for his encouragement and support. I’d like to give advance thanks to the team, led by Associate Professor Martin Thoms, which has organised the ‘Ninth International Conference on River Research and Applications’ on behalf of the CRCFE. The conference begins on the first weekend of July 2003, at Albury, NSW, with delegates attending from 24 countries including Australia. It should be a great success. And finally, sincere thanks to all the staff of the CRCFE, for your friendly, willing attitudes and impressive teamwork throughout 2002-2003.

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