The Eastern Bay was graded “B-” in the 2009 Report Card, a small drop in ecosystem health from the previous years' “B”.  This reduction in grade was due to a combination of small deteriorations in water quality (EHI) and bio-indicators (BHR).  For the EHI, there were small increases in phytoplankton and Lyngbya abundance and with the BHR there were reductions in seagrass depth range at Peel Island and Pelican Banks.  However, as in previous years, nutrient concentrations (TN, TP) remained fully compliant with QWQ objectives

Abbreviations glossary

A description of the indicators and methods used can be downloaded as a PDF file.

ECOSYSTEM HEALTH INDEX (EHI)

The EHI is a measure of the proportion of a reporting zone that complied with the water quality objectives for key indicators monitored as part of the Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program. The water quality objectives are defined in the South East Queensland Regional Water Quality Management Strategy (2001).

• EHI 1 = 100% of area complies with the environmental objectives.
• EHI 0 = 0% of the area complies with the environmental objectives.

BIOLOGICAL HEALTH RATING (BHR)

The BHR forms 20% of the the Report Card Grade. The values in this sheets are calculated using the original method used since 2002-03 and is presented for comparison.