Environmental

The report card assess different priority indicators of aquatic ecosystem health to report on overall condition of the freshwater, estuarine and marine environments in the Mackay-Whitsunday region.

The report card is produced annually and is based on data collected from July of one year to June of the next year. This takes into account the dry and wet season cycle, ensuring that each wet season is included in one reporting period.

The naming protocol for the report card reflects the latest date of the environmental data that has been reported. For example, the 2016 report card includes data from July 2015 to June 2016. Some indicators are not reported every year; habitat and hydrology indicators in freshwater and estuarine environments are updated every four years and fish in freshwater environments are updated every three years.

Data is drawn from numerous existing programs throughout the Region. Grey sections in the results mean either data is not collected for that indicator, or that a methodology has not been finalised to convert existing data into a report card grade. Work is underway to fill grey sections by establishing new programs or finalising methodology to report on existing data.

For further information on the environmental data and the ways it is scored please click here.