Great Barrier Reef Marine Monitoring Program

CYWP members undertake marine water quality monitoring across 4 Eastern Cape York sub-regions as part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's Marine Monitoring Programme.

Led by Howley Environmental Consulting, partners including Yintinga Aboriginal Corporation, Yuku Baja Muliku Land and Sea Rangers, Gamay Traditional Owners and Kuuku Ya'u rangers monitor water quality along river to reef transects in four sub-regions: Annan-Endeavour, Normanby -Kennedy, Stewart and Pascoe Rivers. 

Samples are collected 5 times per year along each transect during ambient conditions, with additional monitoring occurring during flood events. Dataloggers located on two reefs in the inshore and mid-shelf zone also measure turbidity, chlorophyll-a and conductivity every ten minutes through the wet season. 

This program monitors long-term changes in water quality in GBR inshore regions, as well as assessing the influence of flood events on marine ecosystems.