Jason Van De Merwe South QLD Regional Representative
mikaela.nordborg@my.jcu.edu.au j.vandemerwe@griffith.edu.au
Marine Pollution Panel Event
SETAC Australasia, in conjunction with the Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA) South Queensland branch held a Marine Pollution Panel in Brisbane on May 13. Panel members included Professor Kathy Townsend, Dr Stuart Simpson and Dr Jason van de Merwe. Each speaker gave a 15 min presentation on marine pollution, followed by a lively discussion panel around marine pollution issues, and of course drinks, nibbles and networking. It was a great night, attended by about 40 people including many SETAC members.
ARITOX Research Group, Griffith University
The ARI-TOX Research Group at Griffith University has had another busy start to the year. Jason van de Merwe and Kimberly Finlayson have been working with the Sea World Foundation and the Queensland Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (and many other organisations) on assessing sea turtle health in Hervey Bay in response to the major flooding event at the beginning of 2022. In collaboration with the Sea World Foundation, they have also begun a comprehensive assessment on the health and toxicology of sea turtles foraging in Moreton Bay (https://youtube.com/shorts/Iev1S-MSeM8?si=xo2WoAXZWoagSJ6D).
Matt Johnson submitted his PhD “Ethical and high throughput cell-based alternatives for toxicity assessments of contaminated water”, and we welcomed Natalie Palmer as a new PhD candidate to our group. PhD candidates Taryn-Lee Perrior and Siobhan Houlihan presented their work on shark toxicology at the Oceania Chondrichthyan Society Conference in Mooloolabah. Kim Finlayson and Nat Palmer presented their work on chemical pollution in sea turtles and whales at the Australian Marine Sciences Association conference in Melbourne.
PhD candidate, Shritika Prakash, just completed her first field season assessing chemical pollution of sea turtles foraging in Fiji…a trip her supervisors (Kim Finlayson and Jason van de Merwe) had to help with of course.
Our other PhD candidates and Honours students have also been busy in the lab and field.
Tropical Ecotoxicology & Risk Assessment team, Australian Institute of Marine Science
The biggest news from the TERA team at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is a huge congratulations to Dr. Marie Thomas! Marie recently received her PhD from the University of Queensland (UQ) for her project ‘Quantifying the impacts of environmental stress on marine microbial communities’ in collaboration with researchers at AIMS. Marie’s thesis provides the first quantitative framework to derive water quality guideline values for coral reef microbial communities (applicable to both pollution and climate stressors), establishing a pathway for integrating microbial responses into environmental risk assessments. Marie will be presenting this exciting work at the SETAC AU & ACTRA conference in Wellington, NZ in the Identifying 'ecologically relevant endpoints' for microbial processes to inform Environmental Quality Guidelines and One Health approaches session.
If you want to read about Marie’s work then you can find her latest publication here: Development of a quantitative PMA-16S rRNA gene sequencing workflow for absolute abundance measurements of seawater microbial communities.
She is also looking for new and exciting research opportunities, so make sure you hit her up if you are looking for an excellent scientist with skills in eDNA, environmental monitoring & risk assessment, quantitative microbiology, and extensive experience in developing new methodologies!
Marie performing experimental work for her PhD project in the National Sea Simulator at AIMS Townsville
Dr Marie Thomas in a classic (but temporary) graduation hat, made by her friends and family in Europe
TropWATER, James Cook University
The TropWATER group has had a big year so far as a consequence of the record breaking wet season in Nth Qld. Our post wet sampling program was enormous with everyone in our team heading out north, west and south of Townsville on multiple sampling programs. The dry tropics landscape is looking phenomenal with groundcover remaining green well into the dry (or not so) dry season.
Shelley Templeman so far has not managed to successfully complete one monitoring program as both attempts had to be abandoned due to unseasonal rainfall at the project making sites inaccessible – fingers crossed for attempt 3 in a couple of weeks. Shelley has also been continuing rolling out a short course program on aquatic monitoring and sampling to indigenous groups as well as industry, government and other interested parties.
Sarah McDonald has been working across multiple groups including being engaged on some large projects on grazing land condition assessments in the Gulf of Carpentaria – so far no field trips but lots of project coordination. Sarah was also successful in getting a promotion to Academic Level B at the end of 2024 – congrats!
Julie Hanley had another successful trip to Kakadu National Park as part of a project with Andrew Harford, Lisa Chandler & Tom Mooney from DCCEEW. With so much water in the landscape of the ephemeral creeks in north and north-west Queensland, she has had a bounty of bugs to sort and identify for our projects. Meanwhile Chris has been buried in the laptop focussing on data analysis and report reporting to meet many of our reporting commitments.
January 2025 saw Martine Tande join us as a Masters student on a 12 month project. She is studying the effects of rubbervine (Cryptostegia grandiflora) sap on aquatic species. This major tropical riparian weed is highly toxic and is also enjoying the benefits of a good wet season!!! Be sure to try and catch both hers and Sarah’s presentations at SETAC-AU/ACTRA in Wellington in August.
Julie in the field
Impressive scenes crossing the Burdekin River at Sellheim in February following record rainfall
Outback sunrises never get old
In this Endpoint issue we showcase the exciting news from the team at NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) - Environment Protection Science
It has been a busy and exciting time for the Environment Protection Science (EPS) Branch at the NSW Government’s Science and Insights Division, DCCEEW. From new leadership to major project milestones and team updates, here’s a snapshot of what has been happening across the branch.
New Executive Director for the Science and Insights Division!
We’re excited to welcome Mark Patrick Taylor as the new Executive Director of the Science and Insights Division. Mark, who started with the division in June 2025, was previously the Victorian EPAs Chief Environmental Scientist and prior to that was Professor of Environmental Science and Human Health at Macquarie University, where he remains an honorary Professor. It goes without saying Mark has extensive expertise in environmental contamination and its impacts on ecological and human health and we look forward to tapping into that expertise. Welcome Mark!
Photo – Top: Chemical Forensics Team Leader Yarong Li showing Mark Taylor and Alison Pepper (Deputy Secretary, DCCEEW Strategic Policy, Science and Engagement Group) environmental samples. Bottom: Mark Taylor, Alison Pepper and Aleksandr Render with EPS staff Chris Doyle (Senior Team Leader – Environmental Forensics), Megan Gillmore (Team Leader - Ecotoxicology), Danielle Hill, Yarong Li and Janina Beyer and a Dwarf Mountain Pine Specimen from the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah.
An update from the Environmental Forensics Team
Meet Our New Team Member!
We're pleased to welcome Tim Remaili as Senior Scientist – Ecotoxicology. With over 7 years of experience at NSW DCCEEW and diverse expertise in aquatic contaminant and stressor biogeochemistry and ecotoxicology, Tim is a valuable addition to the team. He also retains his title as Research Scientist under the NSW Government classification. Photo – Dr Tim Remaili on his recent trip to Rotorua, New Zealand.
A New Arrival Coming Soon!
We’re thrilled to share that Megan Gillmore, Team Leader - Ecotoxicology, will be starting her maternity leave at the beginning of September. We wish Megan all the very best as she embarks on this wonderful new journey, and we look forward to welcoming her back – no doubt with many stories of her new adventures!
Project Highlights and Updates
$490K Boost to Tackle Microplastics in Soil and Waste
The Environmental Forensics team has been awarded $490,000 through the NSW EPA Plastic Research Program to develop best-practice methods for sampling and analysing microplastics in soil, compost, and treated sewage. This project is one of three funded under the NSW Plastics Action Plan, with a total of $1.25 million announced by NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe. This work builds on earlier research that created a new way to measure microplastics in environmental samples, published in Environmental Science & Technology and cited in over 900 scientific papers. Led by Matthew Jacobs, the new project will work with CSIRO to test reliable, scalable methods for analysing microplastics and to improve monitoring and risk assessments. Stay tuned for updates as this important work progresses!
Signs of Sediment Recovery in Lake Macquarie
A recent study by the Environmental Forensics team for the NSW EPA has found that metal levels in the southern end of Lake Macquarie are on the decline and are expected to keep improving. Led by Megan Gillmore, the team checked water and sediment quality and found most metal concentrations were below guideline values and much lower than in past studies. There was no evidence that nearby coal-fired power stations or ash dams were impacting contaminant levels or harming benthic invertebrates, which are key indicators of sediment health. Find further information on NSW EPA’s website. Photo – Megan Gillmore sampling sediments at Lake Macquarie, NSW.
Tracking the Hidden Pests in Our Rivers
We’ve been ramping up our use of passive samplers and grab samples to track pesticides and pharmaceuticals in NSW waterways and understand their risks to aquatic life. This includes monitoring rivers in the Northern Rivers region (Richmond, Tweed, Brunswick, Clarence, Bellinger, Manning), the Coffs Harbour catchments, Lake Illawarra, and the Darling Baaka River. We’re also looking at potential risks of pesticides to turtles and, with the DCCEEW Water, Wetland and Coastal Science branch, studying how floods and events like Tropical Cyclone Alfred have impacted pesticide concentrations in these rivers. Photo – Passive samplers being deployed in the Northern Rivers region, NSW.
Tracking Water Quality to Save the Dwarf Mountain Pine
