pine river weed?

[Rainbowrunner]

went across to tangalooma on wednesday for a snorkel and swim and was greeted at teh dohles rocks boat ramp by an abnormal amount of weed or water plants of some sort in the river washed down with the rain from the night before. it extended quite a few kms past woody point.
Heaps fresh still running out, gonna be good for the prawns n crabs.

[marty+jojo]

I went down to Queens beach yesterday arvo and there were a lot of these lilly's washed up on the beach there.
Marty.

[Birdhouse01]

is it all of the fertiliser running off from upstream? or the 21 shipping containers leeching fertiliser out in the bay? :D


I noticed on our last trip to d'brook more weed banks then ever.


Thanks for the post, i think i'd better go crabbing in the pine tomorrow for a few hours to see for myself!!

[Dirtysanchez]

I drive over the pine on the motorway every day & it has only just started to thin out now (thursday) someone sai to me it was the grasses on the edges of the river washed in after the river swells and inundates the banks, but I doubt that, it looks to be some sort of Lilly or water plant as stated earlier, must come from way up in the upper reaches, but it has been really thick
(Didn't stop that little trawler from having his nets out near the cement works)

[Nico.d.R]

i think it gets washed out from the dam , not the north pine dam but the other one near there that also spills into youngs crossing . After the last big down pour and weed a couple off months ago i noticed a few fairly big sticks/logs in open areas that are normally clear off hazards so take it slow and easy if you head out .

cheers

[sleepygreg]

definitely the water Hyacinths (sp) from the upper reaches of the rivers. Did a bit of a recce along the reddy peninsula today......beaches are carpeted with the stuff. Still a fair bit floating though...so take care.

Greg

[Rainbowrunner]

I think there is quite a few little freshwater dams close to the river further up both in north and south pine that must have overflowed.
Geez there was alot of it, looked like big islands just off redcliffe.

[kingtin]

Yeah, it's nearly all water hyacinth. It's illegal to keep 'em, even in a goldfish pond and the DPI have imported and bred, a beetle that lives solely on water hyacinths. From the state of the Pine, it looks like they ain't put any beetles upstream or else the cane toads have ate 'em.............another brilliant import! ::) ;D

There used to be heaps on the lagoon on bracken Ridge road but the beetles shifted 'em in a couple of months.

kev

[lippa]

the shit almost comes exclusively from the south pine.comes from all that brackish water, as far up to cash's crossing, at the end of leitches road there.

after every rain ya know ya have to dodge that bastard plant in the pine.
####ing stinks too when it starts breaking down

[powert]

Greg and Kev are right water hyacinth is the main culprit here. It is very invasive and a major problem up here in north QLD, bucket loads of money is spent trying to keep irrigation channels open and rehabilitating waterways. Seasonal streams and closed systems i.e. lagoons and dams are particularly vulnerable as this and other water weeds can completely cover/choke the water way. This impacts on the fishery in several ways:

- changes water chemistry i.e. reductions in pH and dissolved oxygen, which can lead to fish kills.
- reduces variation in habitat, which in turn reduces diversity.
- deters many migrating fish from moving into affected areas as the water that flows out from these systems is often very low in dissolved oxygen.

If left unchecked floating weeds can form a platform allowing the establishment of terrestrial plants such as grasses, ferns and even trees. The worst site that I have seen had 20 ft tea trees growing on a raft of ferns and grasses that was so thick you could walk from one side of the bank to the other without getting your feet wet.

Attached is a photo from the upper reaches of the Bohle River in Townsville. This spot was completely choked with water hyacinth, thankfully the wet season flow dislodged most of it however large patches still remain.

If there is a stream that you visit regularly and you notice this or other water weeds that weren't there previously I strongly recommend that you report it to your local DPI office, before it gets a hold and becomes near on impossible to eradicate.

Trent