Surprise sighting on Hervey Bay Beaches
Clumps of Water Hyacinth have been sighted on beaches around the Bay and on Fraser Island after the recent heavy rains and flooding of the Mary River.

Much of the massive 'dead zone' of noxious weed, including salvinia molesta, which had been suffocating the Mary for several kilometres near Gympie, was flushed out to sea by the floods. Fortunately, hyacinth doesn't like salt water. The concern for some has been the impacts the dying weed would have on seagrass beds if it sank to the sea floor.

This deposit on the beach near the Urangan Fish Market was the largest we found.

Other signs of 'river flushing' have been reported from Kingfisher jetty on Fraser Island. Soon after the storm a great plume of brownish cloudy water, packed with nutrients, was spotted approaching the jetty through the clear blue water, where it lingered for several days. It was a perfect illustration of just how far-reaching the influence of the Mary's environmental flows are in the Strait, and how vital it is that these flows continue!