icolls - Sustainable Tourism CRC

ECOLOGY, THREATS AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS FOR SMALL ESTUARIES AND ICOLLS
APPENDIX A: THE INTERMITTENTLY CLOSED AND OPEN
LAKES (ICOLLS) SPECIAL SESSION AT THE ‘ESTUARIES AND
CHANGE’ CONFERENCE
Background
In addition to the ecological work conducted as part of this project, we also sought to raise awareness and
appreciation of ICOLLs among stakeholder and research scientist groups. To this end, Dr Wade Hadwen and
Prof Angela Arthington coordinated an ICOLLs Special Session at the “Estuaries and Change” conference in
Ballina, New South Wales. This was an international conference, co-sponsored by the Estuarine Coastal and
Shelf Association (ECSA) and Estuarine Research Federation (ERF), which are the two largest scientific
organisations that focus on estuarine research and management.
The ICOLLs special session was first advertised on the conference website in the form of an abstract inviting
participants to submit their abstracts for presentations into this session. The abstract for the special session read
as follows:
Special Session Abstract
46
Intermittently Closed and Open Lakes and Lagoons (ICOLLs)
Session Convener: Dr Wade Hadwen w.hadwen@griffith.edu.au
Griffith University, Australia
Despite their abundance in many coastal regions, very little is known of the ecology, hydrology and
geomorphology of ICOLLs. This special session aims to raise the profile of ICOLLs and estuaries and
facilitate discussion and recognition of the role they play in maintaining key coastal processes.
Particular emphasis is to be placed on eutrophication, commercial fishing, the forced opening and
closing of ICOLL connections to the sea, and the effects that human activities may have on the ecology
of these ecosystems.
The response to this invitation to participate in the ICOLLs special session was extremely positive. A total of
38 abstracts were submitted via this special session, making it the most popular of all sessions offered at the
conference. Unfortunately, timetabling logistics allowed only 22 of the initial submitted abstracts to be accepted
for the ICOLLs special session. Nevertheless, the ICOLLs special session ran over three days, as detailed in the
table below. Significantly, there was a very wide range of issues covered across the presentations in the special
session. The topics ranged from studies of water quality and artificial opening events to assessments of nutrient
loads, fauna and flora and ecosystem responses to perturbations in these unique coastal environments.
Furthermore, the geographical distribution and relevance of the ICOLLs session was evident given that
contributions came from within Australia (New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia), India and Sri Lanka,
South Africa and Namibia and the southern part of North America (see table below). All abstracts submitted in
the ICOLLs special session of the “Estuaries and Change” conference are presented in Appendix C.