The Marshall Liberal Government is progressing a package of Coorong projects and further investigations after two reports into the health of the region were released today.
The newly published Coorong Summit Summary Report and Goyder Expert Panel Report summarise recommendations and outline a vision for the Coorong.
Minister for Environment and Water David Speirs said the reports build a working vision to help restore the health of the Coorong, characterised by healthy vegetation and with abundant and diverse populations of waterbirds, fish and plants.
“During the Millennium Drought the Coorong was at the brink of collapse, but thanks to measures under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan the environment is slowly recovering,” said Minister Speirs.
“Yet the ecology of the South Lagoon of the Coorong has remained in a degraded state, despite the delivery of water for the environment in recent years.
“When I became Minister I made it clear that we needed a much stronger understanding of the Coorong which is why I initiated the Coorong summit, pulling together our key scientific experts to create a consensus as what was needed to restore this precious habitat.
“The reports recommend a series of short, medium and long-term remediation actions to restore the Coorong.
“This includes establishing a series of refuge wetlands while the south lagoon is recovering, optimising the benefits of water from the River Murray, Southern Ocean and the Upper South East, and managing nutrients to control algae growth.”
The two reports provide the State Government with a strong basis to work with the Federal Government to secure funding to protect and rehabilitate this iconic wetland.
“I’ve met with Minister Littleproud and I am confident that through strong and mature collaboration between our governments we can work together to deliver on-ground actions to help restore the Coorong environment for future generations,” said Minister Speirs.
“I look forward to further cooperation with the Federal Government to achieve the best possible outcomes for the Coorong.”
For a copy of the reports visit: https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/topics/river-murray/about-the-river/coorong-lower-lakes-murray-mouth
