Coffs Harbour Region Ecohealth Project 2014-2015: Assessment of River and Estuarine Condition

The development of a standardised means of collecting, analysing and presenting riverine, coastal and estuarine assessments of ecological condition has been identified as a key need for coastal Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. Thirty-one study sites were selected across the Coffs coastal catchment; 11 freshwater sites and 20 estuarine sites. These sites were sampled 8 times from September 2014 to December 2015 to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment.

The 14 Coffs coastal catchments were divided into 9 hydrologic units for reporting: Corindi River, Saltwater Creek and Pipeclay Lake; Arrawarra Creek; Darkum Creek; Woolgoolga Creek; Willis Creek and Hearnes Lake; Moonee Creek; Coffs Creek; Boambee and Newports Creeks; and Bonville and Pine Creeks. The project aimed to:

• Assess the health of coastal catchments using standardised indicators and reporting for estuaries, and freshwater river reaches using hydrology, water quality, riparian vegetation and habitat quality, geomorphic condition and macroinvertebrate assemblages as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, and
• Contribute scientific information to the development of a report card system for communicating the health of the estuarine and freshwater systems in the Coffs Harbour region.