February 2022: Oyster Harbour Estuary Forum

Want to know what is happening in the Harbour?
The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) and Oyster Harbour Catchment Group are providing an update on Oyster Harbour.

The 2022 Oyster Harbour Estuary Forum was a successful event held in February at the Albany Entertainment Centre (Kalyelup studio) with 75 people attending.  Aimed at informing the general community about the Healthy Estuaries WA (HEWA) program, guests were treated to a range of informative presentations from scientists, government, research staff, students, industry and community group representatives.

The Healthy Estuaries WA Program was introduced by Jennifer Stritzke (DWER), who explained how elements of HEWA (monitoring, stream restoration and sustainable agriculture) continue on from the success of the previous REI project.  Bruce Radys from OHCG updated attendees on the range of activities being implemented locally by OHCG, including the Whole Farm Nutrient Mapping carried out with Farmers in conjunction with DPIRD.

Catherine Thompson’s (DWER senior scientist) overview of long term results of water quality monitoring in the Harbour showed a general improvement in water quality and seagrass cover over recent years.  Of particular interest was the water flow and nutrient inputs during last year’s high rainfall events, which did show a ‘spike’ in water flow and nutrient levels, but not apparent long term effects on Harbour health. 
ct_oh_estuary_health_jan2022_v2.pptx
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Elke Reichwaldt reported on the City of Albany Centennial Park Wetland - which is looking good, with good plant growth and evidence of nutrient stripping at low flow rates.  Joe from Harvest Road outlined sustainable management practices being implemented in the new aquaculture operation, including a large scale survey and clean up of rubbish in the Harbour. 220205_ohcg_sustainability.pdf

UWA student Sonja Pascho is carrying out research to determine the potential of cockles in the Harbour as environmental/biological indicators.  Her talk outlined research methods including Carbon tracing and showed how fascinating these small bivalves can be. 2022_pascho_Albany_UWA.pdf
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After completion of the presentations MC Jo Tomlinson facilitated a panel discussion where guests asked questions to the panel of speakers.  Further discussions continued over supper to round out an informative and entertaining evening.