Hello again from Coquette Point,
The Ospreys have been successful in protesting their nest from the air by day but on Wednesday night the nest came under attack and went crashing to the ground: eggs and all. We think a sand goanna climbed the tree to steal the eggs and in the ensuring battle the nest was destroyed. Dee and John told me that on Thursday the birds cried in alarm all day flying in circles around the nest debris. Since then the female has sat in silent vigil on the tree that once held her nest.
The Ospreys have been successful in protesting their nest from the air by day but on Wednesday night the nest came under attack and went crashing to the ground: eggs and all. We think a sand goanna climbed the tree to steal the eggs and in the ensuring battle the nest was destroyed. Dee and John told me that on Thursday the birds cried in alarm all day flying in circles around the nest debris. Since then the female has sat in silent vigil on the tree that once held her nest.
The incoming tide this week brought with it a scum of brown, frothy foam. This frothy scum is the result of foam fractionation of dissolved organics primarily protein and occurs naturally during rough weather. However it is worth noting that large amounts of foam is an indication there is high levels of dissolved organics present and is often a sign of poor water quality causing changes to the “normal” processes.
Martin reported that over the past few weeks he has observed large slicks of algal blooms five and ten kilometres out from the coast. When temperatures rise in the upper water column, the top few metres of water, algal blooms occur. Where nutrient levels are excessive these blooms can become dramatic creating massive slicks on the surface of the water. These slicks are commonly mistaken for coral spawn however these are not related to coral at all and in fact corals don’t start spawning on mass until the mean water temperature reaches close to 28 degrees centigrade and then occur around the full and new moons from November onwards through the summer months. This coral spawning can create some small slicks on the reef on calm days, however these are usually localised and not on the scale of massive algal blooms. In our local area nutrients in the water accumulate over winter, and when the water temperature spikes on the surface in late winter, early spring algae will start blooming. When these massive blooms crash and die they release large amounts of protein into the water, that then becomes fractionated out during rough weather and creates foamy scum. These massive blooms we are seeing here is a clear example of deteriorating water quality in our near coastal region.
These changes are in line with a change in agricultural use in our local area where in the past cane dominated now we have bananas. This is a crop not suited to our high rainfall region, especially in a region that has such a highly sensitive and important marine ecosystem including “The Great Barrier Reef”. Bananas are a crop that has large areas of open soil where cane is a grass that covers the soil, bananas use significantly more fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides than cane and in addition also use aerial spraying.
Bananas also require that machinery is in ‘the paddock’ all year, even during our wettest months causing constant churning up of the soil, where cane farming only requires access to ‘the paddocks’ during our dry months and in this period if even small amounts of rain occur harvesting has to stop. As for ground cover in banana farms been a solution it is almost laughable anyone with a yard knows that stop using your driveway for a few days during a wet period and drive over your lawn and see what happens, it turns to mud, so what is a bit ground cover under the wheels of a tractor seven days a week going to do to stop this problem?
Above all it is the insatiable need for water by bananas that seals the fate of our aquatic environment, this need results in the majority of farms located very close to our rivers and creeks so water can be cheaply pumped to the farm. The water that then returns to system is loaded with a cocktail of pollutants and full of silt.
These changes are in line with a change in agricultural use in our local area where in the past cane dominated now we have bananas. This is a crop not suited to our high rainfall region, especially in a region that has such a highly sensitive and important marine ecosystem including “The Great Barrier Reef”. Bananas are a crop that has large areas of open soil where cane is a grass that covers the soil, bananas use significantly more fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides than cane and in addition also use aerial spraying.
Bananas also require that machinery is in ‘the paddock’ all year, even during our wettest months causing constant churning up of the soil, where cane farming only requires access to ‘the paddocks’ during our dry months and in this period if even small amounts of rain occur harvesting has to stop. As for ground cover in banana farms been a solution it is almost laughable anyone with a yard knows that stop using your driveway for a few days during a wet period and drive over your lawn and see what happens, it turns to mud, so what is a bit ground cover under the wheels of a tractor seven days a week going to do to stop this problem?
Above all it is the insatiable need for water by bananas that seals the fate of our aquatic environment, this need results in the majority of farms located very close to our rivers and creeks so water can be cheaply pumped to the farm. The water that then returns to system is loaded with a cocktail of pollutants and full of silt.
Large scale cane farming has been here for over 100 years and 25 years ago our aquatic environment was in pretty good shape, The Johnstone river at our doorstep was alive with fish and other animals, we regularly saw dolphins and large schools of fish in the river.
The water only ran red when we had large amounts of rain in excess of 150mm in a short period. Now the fish are gone and so are the dolphins and the river is dirty almost all year, running red when we have as little as 50mm of rain in a day. In 25 years bananas have done more damage than cane has done in 100 years, it is a tragedy on our doorstop.
Perry Harvey formally of Friendship Cruises did glass bottom boat tours around Purtaboi Island near Dunk Island looking at the stunning fringing reefs. These fringing reefs are gone and over the past decade one would be lucky to see their hand in front of their face swimming around the Island. This level of destruction has now spreading further offshore to the main reef. There is no simple solution to this, however it must be noted that bananas are the wrong crop for this region and they need to be moved elsewhere, such as to the Ord River region, which has the available water without the high rainfall and resultant runoff. There was an attempt to set up large scale banana farming in the Ord region, however high transport costs precluded any expansion. There will always be a cost in this but what does the consumer pay every time we have a cyclone in this clearly cyclone prone area and more importantly what is the environmental cost in having bananas in the wet tropics? Are you willing to pay the price or sit on your hands and loose so much?
The water only ran red when we had large amounts of rain in excess of 150mm in a short period. Now the fish are gone and so are the dolphins and the river is dirty almost all year, running red when we have as little as 50mm of rain in a day. In 25 years bananas have done more damage than cane has done in 100 years, it is a tragedy on our doorstop.
Perry Harvey formally of Friendship Cruises did glass bottom boat tours around Purtaboi Island near Dunk Island looking at the stunning fringing reefs. These fringing reefs are gone and over the past decade one would be lucky to see their hand in front of their face swimming around the Island. This level of destruction has now spreading further offshore to the main reef. There is no simple solution to this, however it must be noted that bananas are the wrong crop for this region and they need to be moved elsewhere, such as to the Ord River region, which has the available water without the high rainfall and resultant runoff. There was an attempt to set up large scale banana farming in the Ord region, however high transport costs precluded any expansion. There will always be a cost in this but what does the consumer pay every time we have a cyclone in this clearly cyclone prone area and more importantly what is the environmental cost in having bananas in the wet tropics? Are you willing to pay the price or sit on your hands and loose so much?
sunbird babies first feed - waiting for feed - sunbird male raises the alarm
The Coquette Point sunbirds are in a frenzy feeding babies and building more nests. I never tire of watching these beautiful birds.
The male sunbird has been regularly raising the alarm as he stands guard over the nest. Each time I check to see what is the problem and found this young amethystine python on the move hungry for a feed.
Near Ninds Creek I saw cassowary ‘Brown Cone’ fully engaged in eating something from the shallow water in the swamp.
I could not see what he was eating, it was possibly snails or fungi.
I could not see what he was eating, it was possibly snails or fungi.
All over the forest floor spectacular fungi is growing on trees trunks that fell to cyclone ‘Yasi’.
Soldier crabs are still hiding under rocks and mangrove roots at Coquette Point. However young Innisfail anglers, know where to find them. Lots of fun and screams as Kerin and Co collected bait this afternoon for an evening of fishing on the river.
A mackerel sky yesterday indicates rain on the way. This photo, taken yesterday, of a beach almond Terminalla catappa sprouting new leaves encouraged by the warmth of spring while a mackerel sky promises rain.
Cheers for now,
Yvonne C.
Cheers for now,
Yvonne C.
