Report card 2020

Interactive report card

Fully explore the results through the interactive report card.

Results

The Reef Water Quality Report Card 2020 details progress towards the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan targets up to June 2020.

Overall, the results show continued progress towards the water quality targets.

According to the modelling, we are more than halfway to the sediment target and almost halfway to the dissolved inorganic nitrogen target.

Reductions are mostly due to improved nitrogen fertiliser management and mill mud application in the sugarcane industry and significant investment in fencing to exclude cattle from waterways.

We are close to achieving the particulate nutrients targets – more than three-quarters of the way for particulate phosphorus and almost three-quarters of the way for particulate nitrogen.

Overall inshore marine condition improved to moderate in 2019–2020, with water quality improving to good and coral and seagrass remaining in poor condition.

Progress towards the land management practice adoption target is not reported in this report card as this target is being reviewed. New targets are proposed to be set for each industry and at a finer scale. They will more directly align with what is needed to achieve the water quality targets which vary across catchments.

The report card draws on multiple lines of evidence including industry and extension programs. Science underpins the report card with all results reviewed by the Independent Science Panel.

Screenshot of highlights from the report card.Open larger image

Key results

  • Modelling showed there was moderate progress towards the dissolved inorganic nitrogen target across the Great Barrier Reef catchments in 2019–2020 with an annual reduction of 2.2%. The greatest reductions were in the Wet Tropics (3.2%) and Burdekin (2.8%) regions. The Johnstone catchment (Wet Tropics region) had the greatest annual reduction (6.4%).
    • There was very good progress towards the targets in the Mossman (4.6%), Johnstone (6.4%), Tully (5.6%) and Murray (3.7%) catchments with good progress in the Haughton (2.7%), Burrum (1.4%) and Mary (2.2%) catchments.
    • Reductions were mostly due to improved nitrogen fertiliser management and mill mud application in the sugarcane industry.
  • Progress towards the fine sediment target improved to moderate across the Great Barrier Reef catchments with an annual reduction of 0.6%. The greatest reduction was in the Mary catchment (Burnett Mary region) with a modelled annual reduction of 7.2% - very good progress. This was due to significant investment in fencing to exclude cattle from waterways.
    • Cape York continued to meet the target, recording a further reduction of 2.1% due to reducing grazing pressure and installing fencing.
  • Pesticide risk across most Great Barrier Reef catchments was similar to 2019.
    • The Tully catchment (Wet Tropics region) improved from moderate to good with a notable reduction in insecticides.
    • The Mary and Burrum catchments (Burnett Mary region) also improved from moderate to good.
    • The Haughton catchment (Burdekin region) remained in poor condition, as did the Mackay Whitsunday region, where some catchments were in very poor condition.
  • Ground cover in the Fitzroy region experienced large areas of recovery from the previous year, increasing from 47% in 2019 to 63% of the grazing area having adequate ground cover levels in 2020 (below the target of 90%). Many areas were still impacted by drought.
  • Overall inshore marine condition improved to moderate in 2019-2020, with water quality improving to good and coral and seagrass remaining in poor condition. The Wet Tropics, Burdekin, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary regions were in moderate condition overall and the Cape York and Mackay Whitsunday regions were in poor condition overall.

Fully explore the results through the interactive report card.

Information about how the key indicators were measured is available in the Methods section.

For more information, read the Frequently asked questions.

You can also learn more about the opinions of cane farmers and graziers who have been involved in projects to improve the quality of water flowing to the Reef through the social monitoring data and case studies where landholders tell their story about what motivated them to make changes.