Supervising Scientist Division

Proceedings of the 29th Congress of the Australian Society of Limnology

RM Fry
Jabiru 1990, Supervising Scientist for the Alligator Rivers Region, AGPS, Canberra

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Contents

29th Congress Keynote Speakers, Australian Society of Limnology, Monitoring the impact of disturbance on the aquatic ecosystem

Foreword

AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF LIMNOLOGY CONGRESS - APRIL 1990

The Annual Congress of the Australian Society of Limnology (ASQ) was held in Jabiru, NT, on 20‑23 April 1990. The Congress was hosted by the Office of the Supervising Scientist (OSS) whose research division, the Alligator Rivers Region Research Institute, is located in Jabiru.

The ASL is a scientific society of over 400 people with professional interests related to Australian inland waters ‑ lakes, billabongs, streams, rivers and estuaries. It holds an annual congress, usually near a centre of limnological interest, at which current research and applications of limnological studies are discussed. The OSS was chosen to host the Congress because of its unique charter and expertise and because of its prominence in research and development of environment protection measures for tropical freshwater aquatic ecosystems.

Prior to the Congress, a one day Symposium was convened by OSS specifically to discuss issues concerning water management in the Alligator Rivers Region. The Symposium was attended by about 80 people and comprised a number of agencies with an involvement in water management issues in the Region (OSS, Ranger Uranium Mines, NT Department of Mines and Energy, the Northern Land Council and the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service). The texts of the papers presented at the Symposium and a summary of the panel discussion are contained in section one of this volume.

Over 120 delegates attended the Congress, which focused on issues such as wetlands management, toxicological assessment of waste waters and biological methods for monitoring environmental impact on freshwater ecosystems. A total of 75 scientific papers were presented, covering diverse topics such as the effects of feral animals on billabong communities, dragonflies in a river in north-east Victoria and the impact of sewerage effluent on an alpine river. Participants were given the opportunity to see the Magela floodplain by airboat, visit the Yellow Waters Wetlands, the South Alligator River Valley and Nourlangie Rock. On the first day of the Congress, four speakers from outside the Alligator Rivers Region were invited to give keynote addresses on the more general topic "Monitoring the Impact of Disturbances on the Aquatic Environment". The texts of these keynote addresses and a summary of the panel discussions are contained in section two of this volume.

The issues of water management on mine sites and the control regime adopted by the regulatory authorities to ensure protection of the aquatic ecosystems of the Alligator Rivers Region have been among the most contentious environmental issues faced by mining companies and the authorities since mining commenced in this Region more than ten years ago. It was, therefore, highly appropriate that these were the issues debated by members of the Australian Society of Limnology at their Congress held in Jabiru. It was with much pleasure that I agreed that OSS should host the Congress in Jabiru and convene the Symposium on water management. I am grateful to Ross Hyne and his committee who organised the Symposium and Congress with such success.