Assignment
Future-Plus Environmental was commissioned as the primary consultant to undertake Water Quality and Benthic Community monitoring to support the dredging and spoil placement operations in Rosslyn Bay.
client:
Transport and Main Roads (TMR)
start date:
11/05/2016
duration:
3 years
location:
Yeppoon, QLD
Our Role
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) required expert environmental monitoring services as part of the Rosslyn Bay Boat Harbour Maintenance Dredging Project. The dredging maintenance project has a planning period of 10 years, with dredging works to be undertaken every 3 years from 2012. As part of the environmental management strategy associated with the dredging program, Future-Plus Environmental designed and implemented a monitoring program that assessed the compliance and actual impacts of the proposed dredging. This monitoring program comprised of water quality and benthic monitoring, and addressed four primary objectives as follows:
Install and monitor real-time (telemetry) water quality loggers at primary sensitive sites in conjunction with a control site measuring turbidity, light and sedimentation rate;
- Undertake vessel based monitoring campaigns to increase understanding of plume transport trends from the dredge area and disposal site;
- Assess and compare the condition of reef habitats at identified sensitive sites before, after and 12 months following the dredging campaign; and
- Assess and compare the benthic infauna assemblages and sediment particle size surrounding the disposal site before, after and 12 months following the dredging campaign.
