Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary System Management Strategy ...

EPA Report on the Peel-Harvey Progress and Compliance Report, 2003
• Implementation of a Planning Policy;
• Appropriate land management by landholders and management authorities;
• Government extension services including the provision of advice to landholders;
and
• Local authorities and the State ensuring that decisions and actions are compatible
with the achievement and maintenance of the environmental quality objectives.
The Ministerial Statement that the Strategy may be implemented was issued on 4 January
1989 and contained a number of Environmental Conditions as well as Proponent
Commitments. The Ministerial Statement was amended in 1991 and 1993 to add a small
number of Conditions, including Condition 17 to require the proponents to prepare
periodic Progress and Compliance Reports to “help verify the environmental
performance of the Peel Inlet-Harvey Estuary Management Strategy, Stage 2, in
consultation with the Environmental Protection Authority”.
The Progress and Compliance Report was prepared by the Peel-Harvey Project Managers
Group on behalf of the Senior Officers Group and the three proponent Ministers (PCR,
1998). On 28 January 1999, the EPA resolved that an Expert Review Committee (ERC)
of key professionals be established to provide advice to the EPA on the Progress and
Compliance Report. The members and approach taken by the Peel-Harvey Expert
Review Committee are addressed in Section 3 of this report.
2. CONTEXT
Section 4 of the ERC report provides an excellent account of the definition and
assessment phases of the Peel-Harvey Management Strategy which is briefly summarised
here. The assessment followed over 10 years of scientific research, initiated and
coordinated by the EPA, into the causes of the estuaries’ eutrophication problems,
accompanied by extensive community consultation and agricultural extension in the
catchment.
Studies into the biological and physical aspects of the Peel-Harvey System commenced
in 1977 and were initiated by the EPA. Phase 1 of the studies concluded that:
• the Peel-Harvey System is eutrophic (i.e. severely nutrient enriched) in that there is
an excess of the nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen available for plant growth in the
estuaries;
• the excess of nutrient enters the system from activities in the catchment, in
particular from the application of phosphorus-rich fertilisers; and
• proper management of the system can only be achieved by reducing the present
input of nutrients from agricultural drainage, by preventing the increase of nutrients
from other sources and by not further restricting the flushing of nutrients to the sea
(EMAC, 1981).
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