Water Plan (Wet Tropics) 2013

Each of the following is an ecological outcome for water in the plan area—

the continued capability of a part of the river system to be connected to another, including by maintaining flows that—

allow for the movement of native aquatic fauna between riverine, floodplain, wetland, estuarine and marine environments; and

support water-related ecosystems; and

support river-forming processes;

provision of a flow regime that ensures—

maintenance of fresh water to the estuaries of watercourses and the Great Barrier Reef; and

productivity in the receiving waters of the Great Barrier Reef and inshore reefs;

the support of ecosystems dependent on groundwater, including, for example, ecosystems dependent on surface water and groundwater interactions;

maintenance of a daily flow at each node of at least 1 megalitre per day to perennial surface water flow;

provision of flows and hydraulic habitat for flow-spawning fish and endemic species, including, for example, the Pacific blue-eye (Pseudomugil signifer);

minimisation of the impacts of taking water on water-related ecosystems;

protection and maintenance of refugia associated with waterholes, lakes and wetlands;

minimisation of changes to the natural variability of flows that support—

water-related ecosystems; and

riffle habitats; and

the reproduction and nesting activities of the Australian freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni).

In this section—

required for a particular biological process or response to happen in relation to the fish or species; or

necessary to maintain the long-term biological integrity of the fish or species.