SALTWATER Creek is an urban catchment in the Gold Coast region that is suffering from decreased water quality, degraded riparian vegetation and barriers to fish movement and decreased habitat.
Alongside Ozfish partners at Gold Coast City Council, a new project will address waste issues in the creek through community clean-ups and improvements to stormwater systems, help restore riparian zones through weed control and revegetation, and improve a significant barrier to fish passage.
Being surrounded by residential and industrial development, urban catchments often collect large amounts of inorganic waste. Saltwater Creek is no exception.
In August last year, locals on the Gold Coast joined forces to take charge of getting rid of the rubbish accumulated in Saltwater Creek, and removed over 1853kg across four community events.
This action stops litter within Saltwater Creek washing downstream, doing more damage to water quality and harming fish and other aquatic life, as flows into the Gold Coast Broadwater and greater Moreton Bay catchment, an internationally recognised Ramsar Wetland.
Alongside a number of community clean-up events, OzFish Gold Coast Chapter is working closely with the City of Gold Coast to develop improvements to the stormwater infrastructure draining into the creek.
It is aiming to prevent litter in Saltwater Creek from travelling further into the system and doing more damage to water quality and harming fish and other aquatic life.
