SPEAKER_00 0:57

Good morning everyone and welcome to Word on the Reef. I'm your host, diver and marine conservationist Tanya Murphy. And joining me as always is Ken's Aquarium's marine educator and resident fish whisperer, Brett Goodburn. Good morning everyone. Morning Tanya. Now, before we dive into today's topic, it's time for some uplifting whale news.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Oh, this is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

The first ever drone footage of a humpback whale giving birth has been captured off the New South Wales coast by drone pilot Alex Forrest, a volunteer with the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans, or Orca. Late last month, Alex was filming a female humpback about 700 metres offshore near Kingscliffe when he noticed the whale lagging behind the rest of her pod. Then he saw a spurt of blood in the water. So when I first watched this video, at first you think, is there a predator involved? But then moments later, a tiny whale calf just comes heading out. Basically like a torpedo, and its tail is pumping, full of life. It swims to take its first breath on the surface, and then it's really cute because it just instinctively swims straight around to the front to look its mum in the eye. It's just such a magical.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

It's incredible, isn't it? I've never seen that. That's the first time in my career that I've ever seen that.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Apparently, it's not the first time that a whalebirth has been filmed, but previously it was filmed from uh like a boat, so the footage wasn't as good. So now that they've got this drone footage, it can really see. Yeah, and it's just so adorable the way that like it feels it feels human.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

It's it does. And it's also just so special because we know their numbers have just gone, you know, from a hundred in the eighties to over 40,000 last year. And there's another one. You know what I mean? It's just so special.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Yeah, you see the mother looking in the calf's eye, and then they like nuzzle each other, and then the calf gets on top.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

It gets on top of its mother's back, basically.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I'm not swimming all the way there behind.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Alright, we'll be quiet in the back there.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yeah, that's right. Are we there yet, Mum?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, it's so cute.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

Yeah, it's pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

And uh I've got another heartwarming whale story too. And this one comes from Western Australia.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

A pot of dolphins appears to have befriended a lost juvenile southern right whale and helped guide it back to safety. The endangered whale entered the shallow Peel Harvey estuary near Perth on 28th of June and became stranded after the tide receded. At more than 10 metres long and with almost two metres draught, the whale struggled to navigate the shallow waters, raising fears it might not survive. But while it was trapped, the whale appears to have befriended the local dolphins and was seen swimming and playing alongside them on multiple occasions. Then, on the 17th of July, onlookers watched as the dolphins escorted the whale back towards deeper water. So there's a photo of the juvenile Southern Rite whale with the dolphins all in a formation around it, like they're herding it.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

They're protecting it.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah, and so scientists say this isn't the first time dolphins have been observed helping whales. There have been previous reports of dolphins using this type of herding behaviour and vocalizations to guide whales away from danger. So it's really heartwarming to see the marine life looking out for each other.

SPEAKER_02 4:23

What a beautiful way to start our show. Absolutely. Love a bit of positive news. Mammals helping mammals.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Yeah, I'm making a resolution and in a dig up more positive.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

We'll do that. We're positive first two minutes of our show. So you can sit there with your cup of tea and ice voto and go, oh, what a nice way to start the day.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

But now, let's get on to today's topic, and it's a really interesting one. A group of magnetic island residents believes annual maintenance dredging carried out by the port of Townsville may be creating sediment plumes that smother some of the island's pristine bays, coral reefs, and marine life. And with the port now applying for a 10-year permit to continue the dumping at its current site, they're calling for community members to have their say. So if you listen to our interview with Magnetic Island marine biologist Lawrence Scheele back in season 2, episode 2, you'll know this beautiful island in Cleveland Bay is surrounded by spectacular fringing reefs and is home to turtles, manta rays, jugongs, and an extraordinary diversity of marine life. But Magnetic Island also sits just 10 kilometres from the port of Townsville, exporting minerals and sugar while importing fuel and other essential goods. The port is connected to national shipping routes by a 14-kilometer long shipping channel that passes along the eastern side of Magnetic Island. To keep it navigable, dredging is typically carried out over four to five weeks every year. The dredged material is then tipped back into the ocean at a dredge material placement area less than 10 kilometres upwind of some of Magnetic Island's best-known snorkeling sites, including Jeffrey Bay and Nelly Bay. The port says on its website that its state and federally approved dredging management plan incorporates the principles of ecologically sustainable development. But not everyone on Magnetic Island is convinced. One of these residents joins us today. Gethin Morgan is president of the Magnetic Island Nature Care Association, or Minka. Good morning, Gethin, and welcome to Word on the Reef. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. It's great to have you on the show. Now, before we dive into this murky issue, can you tell us a bit about yourself, Gethan, and your background?

SPEAKER_01 6:35

I'm an ecologist. I work with the Queensland Environment Department for over 20 years and I was the senior scientist in North Queensland. I retired in 2012. The main focus of my work was landscape survey and planning and management using the survey as a basis. Initially, I was working on the terrestrial reserve network and then bioregional planning to support it, tree clearing controls, critical habitat for threatened species, and those sorts of issues. I've lived on the island now over 30 years and I've been president for the last 12.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Kathleen, our online version of this show has listeners all over Australia and the world, and some people may have never seen a dredging barge. And to be fair, I haven't been up real close to one myself. Most people haven't.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

We've passed a few.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Oh yeah, sometimes when you go out in your boat, you see it, but you don't really know exactly how it works. So can you please explain the process of dredging and how it's carried out?

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Sure. Um there's two different types of dredging. One is a periodic one where there's a need to give berth or widen the channel or something like that, where fresh mud is actually dredged. So that's hard, firm seabed. That's normally carried out with a grab or a bucket or something that can take out big lumps of hard clay.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Mm-hmm. A backhoe type thing on on a barge.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, essentially. That's called capital dredging, and these days the ports aren't allowed to dump that at sea, but they are using it to reclaim along the edges of the World Heritage Area for port expansion. So there is an issue with that, but that's not our main issue. Our main issue at the moment is this ten-year application for maintenance dredging. So every year the ports have to go into their access channels and take out any silk that's accumulated. So that's that's a slurry. So that's done with a boat the size of a small coastal steamer, if you like, which trails suctions on either service and it drives along the channel, sucking the loose mud into a big hopper on top of it, and then it steams out to the dumping site, opens up big doors underneath the boat, and just dumps the spoil into the water.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

So I've seen a video of this, so they they lower these tubes to the sea floor and sort of use them to suck up the silt. Gather, what impact are you alleging that this dredging and dumping might be having on Magnetic Island?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Well, look, just for a bit a little bit of background for those who don't know the area, the town falls on Cleveland Bay. Now, Cleveland Bay is this large, sheltered, shallow north facing bay, and Magnetic Island sits at the head of the bay. So it encloses this lovely sheltered seagrass-rich, coal-rich refugee, if you like. It's a very protected habitat, regionally significant for all sorts of things. Snubs in dolphins, jugongs, sharks, rose. Lawrence talked a little bit about that. There's a huge diversity of habitats, and we've all known this for years. So there's a high level of protection. So not only is it part of the World Heritage Area, there's marine parks, green, yellow, blue, there's fish habitat area, there's Jugong protection area covering the entire bay. So all of this is where the port is working. So they're well aware of these values too. So the access channel for the port runs between Cape Cleveland, which is at the eastern end of the bay, and Magnetic Island in the centre of the bay. When they've dredged it, they take the dredge spoil out to the dumping ground, which is midway between Magnetic Island and Cape Cleveland, and then it's dumped into the waters there, which are about twelve to fourteen meters deep. Now, because it that's relatively shallow, with the winds, the southeast winds hitting it there, because it's it's on the edge of the bay, it's out of the cover of Cape Cleveland. The wave action disturbs that or and resuspends that sediment at least one week in three through the year, you know, some seasons worse than others, depending on the winds, of course. And because it's the most mobile silt, you know, the stuff that ends up in the channel all the time. It is, it's silt, it's it's muddy water and it just drifts around the bay according to winds and tides. Mud now drifts around the entire bay. So it's not just in the island, it's in affecting the entire bay.

SPEAKER_00 11:29

So you're saying that that even outside of the four because the dredging typically only takes four to five weeks each year, but you're saying that for the whole rest of the year the wave action just continues to stir up that sediment, so it becomes almost a year-round problem. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Exactly. When when they're actually doing the dredging, there is a plume and it does affect the island and it can be pretty nasty, but it's the more chronic long-term impacts that are the most threatening to the natural values.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

So some of the places that are beloved by snorkelers and tourists like Jeffrey Bay, uh some of the ones that you're concerned about impacts. But how do we know places like Jeffrey Bay haven't always had this murky water and a damaged reef just naturally from the natural sediments that are coming out of the Ross River into Cleveland Bay?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah, look, the port dump site's moved around a bit, but it's only been out at the current site since about 19 uh ninety-three, I think they moved out to there. But prior to that, in nineteen sixty-five, a marine scientist on the island described the fringing reefs on the island. So in nineteen sixty-five, they were equal to anything out on the outer reef. And the water clarity then was consistently more than ten metres. And Florence Bay, underwater visibility could often exceed fifteen metres. And and early photos, photos from that time show that the reef flats, uh, like at Jeffrey Bay and and Florence Bay, were flourishing. They were covered in coral. Those reef flats now are essentially silt covered and and very, very little coral, little fragments struggling to survive in the in the silt.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Oh, that's really sad because we've learned from the likes of Lawrence Scheel and his amazing documentary about Magnetic Island that it is such a important marine habitat and it is home to really diverse marine life and coral, but he knows where to find that stuff in the less affected areas. Whereas when I I've only actually been to Magnetic Island once, and when I first went snorkeling, I was, to be honest, a bit disappointed because I obviously don't know where to go to find the the good stuff. I'm not a local there, but yeah, in the middle of Jeffree Bay and so, uh unfortunately it is not there isn't a lot of thriving coral in that in that spot, so it's definitely noticeable. And uh yeah, when I saw some of the photos on your Minka website of how much coral there used to be in Jeffree Bay, I felt a bit sad. Yeah. And I can't even imagine for the locals who have been there all that time and watched that happen.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah, there there are areas where the currents and the waves keep moving the silt a around and away. The the coral and the ecosystems there are doing better. But on the reef flats where the silt settles out and and the flats around to the western side of the island, they're smothered with mud regularly.

SPEAKER_00 14:38

The port has been carrying out regular maintenance dredging since eighteen eighty-three, according to its website. So it's not a new thing, this dredging. Why do you believe these impacts have only been observed in recent decades?

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Look, they've been observed for longer than that. But a as you say, it's been going on for years and up until about 1965, they were dumping between the island and the mainland. So they've moved the site five or six times, and every time they've moved it, it's been because of the obvious impact it was having. So starting with the 65 move, it was making such a mess of the place that the local state member Perth Tucker stood up in Parliament and described the silt as a a disgusting sort of ooze, there his words, that was damaging the reefs and beaches. And there's photos at the time of it angle deep on Palarenga. The dump site was then moved to off Picnic Bay, and Picnic Bay succumbed to the silt then, and then it was moved further out to off Nelly Bay, and Nelly Bay became similarly affected. And then they finally moved it out to the current site in about 1993. The issue with the current site is not only is it out there where it's spreading all over the place, the port has also recently deepened and widened its channel. So there is also more maintenance dredging to be done, and the increase in quantities with this widening and deepening of the channel is taken it from about 450,000 cubic metres a year to over 550,000 cubic metres a year. So this current site and the impact it's having is only going to get greater. And of course, there's issues associated with climate change. We've now got more wind and wave and and more extreme events. So we're very concerned about the business as usual.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

I saw some images on your website as well that shows that over time this dumping site does sort of mound up, right? And so it's getting shallower over time, would you say?

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Uh that that's what the early reports were saying. The reporters told us more recently that those mounds aren't as obvious. So I don't know, I haven't seen the data, but they're they're saying that the bay's not as mounded as it used to be. They're also arguing at the same time that on the one hand, where they're dumping the spoil, it's not having any impact, but on the other hand, nor is it getting shallower, so it's going somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

What emotional impact has this had on you seeing these changes in the the reefs you love?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Oh, look, it's awful. When when we first came to the island in about ninety-three, we we'd drive over the headland between Nelly Bay and Arcadia or Jeffrey Bay, and you'd look down into Jeffrey Bay and when it was windy, the bay would be, you know, murky. But Jeffrey Bay itself was clean. And it still had good coral in through there. And within a few years of this of the dump site being moved out further out into the bay there, Jeffrey Bay on a windy day would be as murky, if not murkier, than the rest of the bay. So we've just I mean, we've got all the other issues of warming waters and acidification and so on. But the coal used to bounce back. It used to come back, but uh now it's struggling to survive, let alone come back.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

Yeah, well it's got that on top of everything else, doesn't it, at the moment? Just compounding it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Gethin, how can you be sure that the sediment plumes you're seeing at Magnetic Island aren't from another source like agricultural runoff?

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Well, the only water course of any note that empties into the bay, you know, that would likely bring in that sort of runoff is Ross River. And with its weirs and dams, there's very little that comes down that. So the other potential source of sediment, of course, is the Burdican River, which also now has the big dam in it too. So there's less coming down from there despite the degraded nature of a lot of its catchment. But a lot of that coarsa silt is trapped closer to the coast and very little of it actually moves around into Cleveland Bay, and the last biggest the port have on their website i is about fifty thousand cubic meters per year coming in, and they're dredging about four hundred and fifty thousand at least at the moment. So if it is coming from there, it's a very small component. And look, back in the eighties there was quite a bit of work done on the sediment in the bay, and that clearly showed that over the hard basement of the bay there is a thick layer of dredge spoil. It covers the entire bay, so we've known it since at least then. And that's the loose mobile stuff that's being disturbed all the time. Now, last year we were fortunate that when the maintenance stretching program was underway, we had some very clear still days. So we've got satellite imagery of the spoil being released out at the dump site and moving in waves towards the island. And then we've got some drone footage of just this massive front of silt-laden water approaching Jeffrey Bay and consequently wrapping itself around the island.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

I think we saw that one. We had we actually had a look at that photo before we came on air.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

I'm looking at it right now.

SPEAKER_02 20:18

Yeah, Tanya's looking at it. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

You can see a very noticeable Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:23

It's pretty evident that that's the issue that's happening, and it's heading straight for the bay, isn't it? The evidence is there.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

So it's it's entirely contrary to what the port is saying with their modelling. They're saying it doesn't move fast on the dump site at all. That was on a still day. If they dump while it's windy or there's currents around, it's even more mobile. But because the bay is stirred up at the same time, it tends to get lost in the turbidity of the general bay. But on a clear day it's quite clear what's happening.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, I'm looking at the satellite image now and there's clear plumes originating from the point exactly where a load has just been dumped, and you can see them they are moving towards Magnetic Island and then sort of to the north and around. And, you know, I'm not a hydrologist, so I can't definitively say whether there's plumes from other sources that are sort of intervening in there, but it's very obvious because the prevailing winds off of the Queensland coast are southeasterly, that it's going to push anything in that direction towards the island, and that's what it appears on this satellite image.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

When that dump site was established back in ninety-three, the studies for that site warned that there would be chronic leakage from there. So that was in ninety-three. In 2013, SKM was contracted by Gabumpa to do also to do modelling from that site because of community concerns. And that modelling predicted heavy sedimentation around the island as well. So none of it's a surprise. It's just ongoing.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

What about tourism operators on the island? What do they think about this issue? Have any of them been outspoken about it?

SPEAKER_01 22:12

The tourism operators are just having to live with it, and and while they will look for the best coal for their visitors to see and so avoid the worst of it, if you like, when the water is muddy, either from the dredging operation itself or the consequent leakage from the site, uh it's giving the island a bad reputation. So people So, you know, we'll go somewhere else where it's clearer. And they are concerned about losing tourism from the island. And look another issue that's not being raised at the moment is the trichodesma blooms we're getting. They they appear to be coming more and more frequent. Now in the past trichodesma was always seen as something that got going as a as an algal bloom, if you like, out in the lagoon proper. It remains to be seen whether or not it's developing more frequently and more locally because of the nutrient load that's accumulated in Cleveland Bay. So that's also affecting tourism because now we can have three or four days of rotting trichodesmer along the shines, and if you go swimming in that you can have an infected ear and probably a tummy upset.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Yeah, anyone who's been listening to our show since last year will know the devastating impacts of that harmful algal bloom in South Australia. That's really harmed to the tourism industry. And the last thing we need is things like that happening on our Great Barrier Reef. So yeah, you mentioned that you've raised your concerns with the port and what's been their response, Gethen?

SPEAKER_01 23:52

Look, many times, and they've been very generous in the the time they've given us, but they refuse to recognise that they are having an impact, and despite community concerns, they're not prepared to move the dump site.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Surely there's been some really in-depth environmental studies done in this area to use as evidence for something happening.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Like what you would think so, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Well, I yeah, I kind of would. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Well, uh they entered into a what's called a Section 19 deed of agreement to do various research, the port that is. And one of the new research programs that they committed to doing was a in-depth analysis of alternative sites and the relative impacts of the different sites. Now that was they were due to be completed by 2019. They weren't done, they dragged their feet, and eventually in 2024-5, they did a a quick and dirty desktop. And that identified a deep water site as having environmental benefits as being the best place to go for the environment. They ran that past the local community. We all agreed with moving to a deep water site, the port looked at all that information and decided that logistically it wasn't possible for them to move. So it was going to take too long to get out there and this and that.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

So the benefits of moving to a deeper site is that the sediment won't get stirred up by waves so easily. Is that the gist of the that's the gist of it?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Once you get deeper than about 20 metres, there's very little wave disturbance and it's an issue of currents then. And that's why the detailed modelling of these deeper water sites needs to be done. Well, despite their commitments to do these studies, the detail hasn't been there. They've looked at their current site in detail, but not at the alternative sites and where it might go from those alternative sites.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

So right now I'm looking at the alternative dredge material placement area options analysis on your website.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

How much did that cost?

SPEAKER_00 26:11

So options analysis. It's got various sites, so just to the it looks about uh less than 10Ks to the north of Magnetic Island, and then some that are further out. And so a community survey indicated area C was most preferred, and area C, if my eyes serve me correctly, is just really far out. It's quite quite far out. So that means that it would have the benefit of being deeper. So the waves won't stir the sediment up, but also the prevailing southeasterly winds will not push any sediment that there is onto Magnetic Island. So I can see why the community preferred that site. But why do you believe the port doesn't want to move sites, Gather?

SPEAKER_01 26:54

Well, we prefer that site if it's not going to have an impact on other areas. So we need that modeling done to make sure that it's not going to go all up to Palm Island or further north. So with with that rider. The port is reluctant to move out there because of the steaming times. The harbour master has also apparently told the port that he doesn't want the dredge vehicle moving close to moored boats out there. So they've got a detour around the mooring places offshore there. So there are a number of logistic reasons that the port believes that they can't do it. But I mean the logistics are just a challenge to be solved. None of it's insoluble. And we just believe the port has a duty of care, not to mention the precautionary principle.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

So what else? Uh you and the Magnetic Island Nature Care Association, what are you asking for for the solutions to this issue? Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

Uh well our preferred response is for the port to work with the department uh in the EPA, the new EPA or the sea dumping people in Canberra, to work out a compromise whereby they use the existing dump site sparingly while independent surveys are done of the alternative sites. And that the federal government, Gabumpa, and the port recognise the values of this area and that they really do have to treat them seriously and do the necessary work to minimize the environmental impact of the port.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So the port is now applying for a permit to continue dumping in the same site for ten more years and there's a public consultation open. So what can people do to be part of that community consultation process?

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Well, the best thing to do is to make a submission on the port's application and oppose the port getting a ten year permit to do the same thing and insist that these alternative deep water sites be properly and independently evaluated before the federal department considers their new application. I think it would also be worthwhile lobbying the federal department directly to make sure that there's a a proper assessment done. As the last World Heritage Report on the reef, the it's uh currently as a draft before the World Heritage Commission, you know, the threatened nature of the reef, this last report has recommended a proper assessment of the impacts of maintenance stretching. We all know it has an impact and we want to reduce it.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Yeah, so I'll be able to put the link for the consultation process on our website. I'll put it in the show notes. But people can also find it on will you put it on the Minka website as well, Gavin?

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Uh we'll put a link to the Port of Townsville website, but people can go straight to the Port of Townsville website and they've got a lot of info there. Our website also has got a lot of background information, including that the stuff you've been referring to. The other thing on our website is we've got some archived information from when the port expansion project was proposed, and we were consulting with the port over that under a Clearwater Townsville page on our website. So if they search Clearwater Townsville on our page, that will come up too with some more historical information.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

What about local council? Surely that there's some councillors at Magnetic Island or in that region that you guys can go to to help you with your cause. I mean, you you can't be just on your own, can you?

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Well, look, I'm sorry to say we pretty much are. The councils it's not part of council's business and they're not engaging with it because the port, of course, makes a very important contribution to North Queensland's economy and Townsville in particular, but so does tourism. And Magnetic Island alone added something like $380 million per annum over the last few years on average. So it's not insignificant. Um we've written we've had a letter writing campaign to the various State Departments as well and the federal office, and basically it's come back to being between the court and the um federal department.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

So we're we're left only with those two people. Comment to the board, which we've been doing, uh but now we've actually got a a uh application in front of us, we can explicitly refer to that, and once that's before the federal department, letting them know of everyone's concerns would also contribute to its proper assessment and consideration.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Getham, was there anything else you wanted to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Oh yes, I'd just like to stress that I think moving it to a deeper side is a really positive outcome for everyone. I mean, depending on on the results of better work, it means uh huge improvements in the health of the bay and its resilience to what's coming. It would mean less silt moving around the bay. The whole bay would have a chance to slowly stabilize and be bioterminated so that it supports a stable base community, a benthink community, and it would mean less uh material moving into the channel, so less dredging and so less quantities to deal with. And so then, you know, the port could seriously consider alternative options to sea dumping. So, you know, as part of a long-term program of continual improvement, which, you know, the port's required to do under the uh Reef 2050 plan and under the long-term dredge management plan, they're all expecting improvement. Well, this is not improvement. Improvement would be a good thing for everyone, and I don't understand why the port won't embrace it.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

It does seem like there could be an alternative outcome which could be the best of both worlds, that that could benefit everyone, and even for those not on Magnetic Island who just like to take a walk along the beaches of Townsville, it might even have an impact to the water quality there, you never know.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Uh most certainly would.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

Gethin Morgan, president of the Magnetic Island Nature Care Association. Thanks for all your amazing work and thanks for joining us on Word on the Reef today.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Yeah, it's been a real pleasure, and thank you for putting in all your your love and care for that environment. We need more people like you. Good job.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Thanks, Get. Absolutely. Have a fabulous weekend. Thanks, Danny. After speaking with Gavin, we wrote to the portal council offering them the opportunity to respond, either with a phone entity or a written response. So we've included a link to it in the line.