Skip to main content

Menu

Water

Related Content

Cape York NRM delivered Sustainable grazing management and on-ground works: maintaining Cape York’s resource base for sustainable management and use – reducing pests and weeds, improving water quality
in 2013-2016. The project was funded by the Queensland Government’s Queensland Natural Resource Management Investment Program. 

The project had a broad impact over its three years of implementation, with signi cant outcomes in developing best practice frameworks, coordination, engagement, capacity building, on-ground works, planning and resource assessment. 

Seagrasses are marine flowering plants that have adapted to growing in muddy, near-shore environments. They form meadows wherever the ocean is shallow enough to allow the sunlight to reach the sea floor. Seagrass meadows are found in river estuaries, along the coast and, if the water is clear enough, way out to sea in waters up to 60 m deep. Recent mapping of the seagrass distribution along the eastern half of the Northern Territory coastline found over 70,000 hectares of intertidal and shallow sub-tidal seagrass beds.

Any activity that occurs under the sea has the potential to generate noise pollution that disrupts marine animals. The most significant sources of damaging noise are seismic surveys, blasting, construction and sonar devices. Animals that are the most sensitive to underwater noise are those that use echolocation or sonar for feeding and navigation. Dolphins appear to be particularly sensitive to high-pitched noises, such as those caused by pile-driving or drilling, and can be affected from distances of up to 1-2 km. Whales tend to be affected by deeper sounds.