- The Palaszczuk Government will invest more than $1.25 million in 11 projects to help improve the conservation and recovery of Queensland’s threatened species
- The projects include the protection and conservation terrestrial and marine threatened species
Queensland’s threatened species will benefit from eleven research projects to improve their conservation and recovery.
The Palaszczuk Government will provide more than $1.25 million for the projects under its Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants program.
Grants of up to $150,000 will support research projects that will improve our understanding of Queensland’s threatened flora and fauna species and assist with their recovery in the wild.
This includes new methods on the distribution and abundance of threatened species, and ways of improving monitoring of threatened species and mitigating threats.
Projects include research on bilbies, whale sharks, grey nurse sharks, freshwater sawfish, spectacled flying fox and threatened plant species and communities.
These projects will help safeguard the future of Queensland’s threatened species, and the funding is an investment towards protecting the state’s biodiversity.
Quotes attributable to the Minister for Environment and Science Leanne Linard:
“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to protecting and conserving our threatened species of animals and plants.
“This funding of more than $1.25 million will be directed at some of our most iconic and vulnerable animals such as the bilby and grey nurse sharks.
“The recipients are either universities or environmental organisations with vast experience in conducting critical research into our threatened species.
“I’d like to congratulate the recipients of the eleven projects, and I look forward to seeing the outcomes and how they will assist our threatened species.
“The Palaszczuk Government is investing significantly to enhance and protect our environment across the state, and we will improve our biodiversity and protect our ecosystems for future generations.
“We have an ambitious environmental agenda, and providing funding through our Community Sustainability Action grants and our Queensland Threatened Species Research Grants is a game-changer.”
Quotes attributable to Sharks And Rays Australia Director and Principal Scientist, Dr Barbara Wueringer
“The funding will allow us to continue and expand our collaborative research with Indigenous Land and Sea rangers.
“We have completed a three-year project into freshwater sawfish, and we can now track juvenile sawfish to determine how they’re using the rivers in the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).
“This is not just a tracking study however, it is a community project of discovery, because we believe they leave their freshwater habitat when they mature.
“The freshwater sawfish can grow up to seven metres long, and used to be common along Queensland’s east coast, from the tip of Cape York to Brisbane.
“The Brisbane River once was a pupping ground for the freshwater sawfish, and unfortunately on the east coast their range is now limited to rivers within the Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL).”
