$35m dam eco centre

11.10.2007

THE Queensland Government is probably at  least 10 years away, from even being able to apply for permission to build the Traveston Crossing dam, one of its senior conservation advisers said in Gympie yesterday.

Prof Jean Joss was speaking only minutes after being named in State Parliament as scientific adviser to a new $35 million conservation and research centre, designed to save the Mary River lungfish, cod and turtle.

Prof Joss, noted for her strong opposition to the dam and her championing of endangered Mary River species, was delivering her keynote address to  yesterday’s  annual general meeting of the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee.

Meanwhile, 180km away in George Street, Premier Anna Bligh had just announced plans for a “Freshwater Species Conservation Centre, to be built near Gympie, adjacent to the Bruce Highway”.

MS Bligh told Parliament the centre would be built “on the eastern shores of the dam, upstream from the dam wall”.

But Prof Joss, who first suggested the research centre idea, said it was much too early to talk about a dam at all, if the government was serious about ensuring it did not drive endangered species, including the lungfish, to extinction.

The necessary information was just not available, she said.

There was no way such a centre could substitute for natural breeding grounds and researchers would need “at least 10 years” to develop data needed to determine if the dam would lead to extinctions.

And she said she would continue her strong opposition to the dam, a position apparently respected by Ms Bligh.

“She’s a lot better than Beattie,” Prof Joss told The Gympie Times.

“I wrote to Peter Beattie early in the piece when he was being very rude to me on television and I said: “I can see you’re absolutely committed to the dam and I’m absolutely committed to the lungfish”.

“I suggested the research centre was something he could consider and I got absolutely nowhere. I don’t think I even got past his minders.

“When he handed over to Anna Bligh, I got through to her. To give her just credit, she embraced the idea.”

But Prof Joss said tying the centre to the dam was putting the cart before the horse.

“They need to set it up first and have at least five to 10 years of data collection before, not after, they decide on building the dam.

“I made it very clear that Im absolutely anti-dam, but Anna Bligh has been so different from Peter Beattie.

“She actually came down to Sydney to see me and my lungfish breeding work. She said we couldn’t possibly allow this fish to become extinct.”

Prof Joss told MRCCC members her success in artificially breeding the lungfish would never be a substitute for natural breeding, at least partly because of the unreliability of human promises.

“How do you guarantee funding forever?” she said.

“At Macquarie University, they’re starting to question my funding and they ask how much money my research on lungfish brings in, because that’s the attitude we have these days under the current federal government.

Conservation groups slam Traveston centre
October 11, 2007

A Queensland government decision to build a centre for threatened species living at the site of a proposed dam has been slammed by conservation groups.

Premier Anna Bligh today announced that $35 million would be taken from the $1.7 billion Traveston Crossing Dam project to build the Freshwater Species Conservation Centre on the site near Gympie.

The research and interpretive facility would be dedicated to the Mary River cod, Mary River turtle and Queensland lungfish.

It was announced as the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the controversial project moved a step closer to public release.

But Ms Bligh said the centre was intended to make the Mary River “the world capital of the lungfish” - not to make the dam more popular with its opponents.

However, the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) described the decision as “outrageous” while the Greens said it was “laughable”.

“The Mary River has been home to the Australian lungfish since the time of the dinosaurs, and it should not be dammed,” ACF campaigner Kate Noble said.

“It is outrageous that the Queensland government intends to lock up the lungfish in a zoo rather than protect the Mary River where it lives - no $35 million research centre can change that.

“Stopping the Traveston Dam is the only way these species will thrive.”

Greens lead Senate candidate for Queensland Larissa Waters said the centre was a “poor substitute” compared to the threatened species’ natural habitat.

“Building a conservation centre for a species you are sending towards extinction is laughable,” Ms Waters said.

“Risking this iconic species for a dam that won’t even solve the current water crisis is ludicrous.”

Nationals member for Gympie, David Gibson, said the centre announcement was an admission that the proposed dam would threaten the endangered species.

“Back in July 2006 Professor Jean Joss (of Sydney’s Macquarie University) called on (then Premier) Peter Beattie to set up a lungfish research and conservation centre which would do the necessary research before the dam was built, as between five to 10 years of data was required,” he said.

“For over 12 months there has been nothing from this government and now on the eve of the release of the draft EIS they announce a conservation centre.

“It makes you wonder just how bad the environmental impact of this dam is?

“I welcome the idea of a freshwater species research and conservation centre based in Gympie but it must not be conditional on the construction of the Traveston Crossing dam.”

Traveston Dam to protect rare species

October 10, 2007

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has defended her government’s motivation for building a conservation centre for threatened species living at the site of a proposed dam.

Ms Bligh announced on Wednesday that $35 million would be taken from the $1.7 billion Traveston Crossing Dam project to build the Freshwater Species Conservation Centre on the site near Gympie.

The research and interpretive facility would be dedicated to the Mary River Cod, Mary River Turtle and Queensland Lungfish.

The centre was announced as the environmental impact statement for the controversial project moved another step closer to public release.

But Ms Bligh said the centre was intended to make the Mary River “the world capital of the lungfish”, not to make the dam more popular with its opponents.

“We don’t for one minute suggest that you can build a dam of this size without some local impact,” she told reporters in Brisbane.

“We do accept our responsibility to minimise those impacts, whether they are on local fauna or on local communities.

“This investment in a world-class centre of excellence in the breeding and survival of the species is about making the Mary River, if you like, the world capital of the lungfish, and the other species.

“This is about putting us on the map nationally and internationally for the protection and enhancement of these species and I have every confidence in the scientific work that is underpinning … the facility.”

Professor Jean Joss of Sydney’s Macquarie University, Professor Gordon Grigg from the University of Queensland and Dr Col Limpus from the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service would lead the research.

Prof Joss, who is opposed to the Traveston Crossing Dam because of its potential impact on lungfish, would move her breeding ponds from Sydney to the new centre.

The University of Queensland would run the centre, with the CSIRO to also play a role.

It would employ 14 staff, and be funded for its first 10 years.

The environmental impact statement for the dam will likely be publicly released next week.

It will then be open for six weeks of public consultation, for the federal environment minister to make a decision on the dam in early 2008.

If the dam is approved, construction of the conservation centre will begin in mid-2009.

Local landholders object to the damming of fertile farming land in the area.

© 2007 AAP

Ten years to eternity: Bligh

12.10.2007

THE State Government’s newly announced Freshwater Species Conservation Centre, planned as part of the Traveston Crossing dam proposal, promises to replace inundated lungfish breeding areas, but only for 10 years.

Premier Anna Bligh said the centre would be a tourist attraction and educational resource as well as a “world capital”  for scientific research.

And in a comment that will alarm conservationists and ultimately embarrass Ms Bligh, she promised environmental safeguards comparable to those of the Burnett River’s Paradise Dam, widely seen as an environmental disaster.

While claiming the project as a permanent substitute for natural breeding areas affected by the proposed dam, she committed the State Government to funding only for the next 10 years.

Contrary to Ms Bligh’s claims, including in State Parliament, one of the conservation centre’s advisory consultants, Prof Jean Joss, told a Gympie audience this week that the Burnett River is “no longer a habitat for the Queensland lungfish,” because of the failure of environmental mitigation measures.

Apparently ill-advised on the failures of Paradise Dam, Ms Bligh admitted that a Traveston Crossing dam would have habitat impacts for the lungfish and the Mary River cod and turtle.

“We are determined, as we have been with other pieces of infrastructure like the Paradise Dam, to minimise those impacts,” Ms Bligh told reporters at a Brisbane news conference.

“This will be much more than a research facility,” she said. “I expect to see (it) visited by people not only as tourists but also students and researchers from around the world.

“The Lungfish, Mary River cod and the Mary River turtle are unique and special species. We have to make sure we protect their long term survival.

“This investment in a world class centre of excellence in the breeding and survival of the species is about putting (Gympie) on the map. We look forward to the Gympie and Mary River area becoming the world capital of knowledge and of interest in the (species).

“Whenever you build a very large piece of infrastructure like a dam, of course there will be impacts. In this case… we have acted responsibly to ensure that any possible impact will be mitigated.

“These species are already under pressure. Their population has been declining for the last two decades. So, there should be an understanding that it is not as if this species are surviving well in their current environment.”

Claiming that the facility would replace natural breeding areas, she said Prof Joss (whose Macquarie University lungfish breeding and research project is regarded as a world leader) had told her that lungfish were “a very suitable species for captive breeding.”

However, Prof Joss simultaneously told the Gympie annual general meeting of the Mary River Catchment Coordinating Committee that such a facility could never replace natural breeding, partly because its continued operation could not be guaranteed forever.

Illustrating that point, Ms Bligh promised funding for “the next 10 years,” along with funding for implementation of research findings.

 
Is this worth $3.5m?
18 October 2007

By Alan Lander

THE cost of preserving the endangered lungfish is working out at an estimated $3.5 million per fish, anti-Traveston Dam advocates said.

According to Gympie MP David Gibson, a survey of a “fish ladder”, one of which operates at Paradise Dam and which is expected to be used at the proposed Traveston Dam – found that only seven lungfish out of a tagged 1285 lungfish successfully navigated the ascension through the fishlock.

Mr Gibson said federal legislation covering endangered species meant a solution to ensure the survival of lungfish – which can only be found in the Mary and Burnett rivers – had to be found.

“The Primary Industries department came up with a concept – they said to protect the fish they will put in a fish ladder,” Mr Gibson said.

“A DPI report later said only 41 fish approached the ladder, and only seven of them – we call them the Magnificent Seven – navigated the ladder.”

David Kreutz, from the Save the Mary River Group, said that based on figures from the Wide Bay Conservation Council, the cost of the technology was mooted to be $14 million.

“But with continuous engineering dramas, the real cost is more like $25 million,” he said.

“The walls of Paradise are 37 metres, and the proposed Traveston walls will be 45 to 60 metres.”

Mr Gibson said the fish ladder at Paradise was enough for the federal government to give the project the go-ahead.

“Given it was a pretty good idea at the time, that was the reason why the (federal) EPBC Act let the dam go ahead,” he said.

“Now we have figures to prove it doesn’t work.”

A Primary Industries spokesman conceded that “only a small number” of tagged lungfish successfully used the fishlock in a 2003 study at Ned Churchward Weir on the Mary River.

But he said things were improving.

“During 2007, the remote tag reading devices have revealed a steady increase in the numbers of lungfish using the fishlock,” he said.

“DPI&F is continuing to monitor lungfish movements using this system and will provide an updated report in July, 2008.”

Mr Kreutz said the lungfish was only one of 57 flora and fauna species under threat by the Traveston Dam.

“No-one has discussed the fate of turtles at Paradise Dam, for example (in relation to Traveston),” he said.

Mr Kreutz said he was looking forward to federal government reviews of Paradise Dam.

“They said reviews would be carried out every year,” he said.

“In November, the dam will be two years old – we await the report with interest.”

Living link with past to be saved

Help awaits the lungfish, writes Leigh Dayton

October 17, 2007

THERE’S been a win for one of the most unlovely, uncharismatic creatures on the planet, thanks to an international campaign to save the last living link to the world’s first land animals: the Australian lungfish.
lungfish

Last week, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced $35 million over 10 years for the establishment of a freshwater species conservation centre, designed to save the state’s lungfish and beef up conservation of the Mary River cod and the Mary River turtle.

“These extraordinary creatures deserve our protection. The conservation centre is about ensuring we gather the knowledge necessary to ensure they don’t just survive, they thrive,” she says.

The new centre will be built as part of Queensland Water Infrastructure’s proposed Traveston Crossing Dam Project.

Bligh’s action follows a long-running effort by more than 100 palaeontologists and evolutionary biologists including Oxford University’s Robert May, the Australian-born former chief scientific adviser to the British Government, and Sweden’s Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University. They teamed up with lungfish champion Jean Joss of Macquarie University to protest against a proposed dam on the Mary River they feared would wipe out the fish, now listed under commonwealth legislation as a threatened species.

Members of the informal network wrote to then federal environment minister Ian Campbell and then Queensland premier Peter Beattie.

Others signed petitions and spoke publicly about their concern.

Last year, for instance, May — also past president of the Royal Society — told The Australian that while five other species of lungfish existed in Africa and South America, the Queensland species was older and therefore closer to the first land vertebrates, or backboned animals.

If the Traveston Dam project is not approved by the federal Environment Minister under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, the centre will not proceed. If the dam does go ahead — as widely tipped — at least the scientifically priceless fish will be saved from extinction, Joss claims: “It’s a win-win for lungfish.”

Along with retired University of Queensland biologist Gordon Grigg and biologist Col Limpus of the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, Joss will serve on a scientific advisory panel for the centre, to be operated by UQ. The CSIRO will monitor research outcomes and performance.

In addition to provision of accommodation and laboratories for visiting scientists, the project will provide funding for breeding ponds, an education centre and 14 staff, including two full-time scientists.

Once staff are in place, Joss says the first task will be a detailed survey of wild lungfish: “We want to known where lungfish are and how they’re doing.”

She says the new centre will be a scientific coup for Queensland. “It will be a state-of-the-art conservation centre for an endangered species,” she says.

And the public will be able to see the creatures Joss sees as beautiful: “When they’re young they have blue eyes and they look right at you.”