The natural flow regime of many rivers is threatened by water extraction and other anthropogenic activities. River regulation due to weirs and dams reduces river flows and is associated with declines in habitat condition, decreased water velocity and depth, and loss of wetted habitat. Aquatic invertebrate community structure in different habitats (e.g. slow flowing areas near river margins versus faster flow mid-stream) is largely governed by water depth, velocity, substrate, food availability and physical disturbance through flooding and drying. By studying the distribution of different flow environments in rivers and their benthic invertebrate inhabitants, we may be able to determine which factors are most influential in promoting the maintenance of benthic invertebrate density and diversity, often considered useful measures of 'river health'. This study compared benthic invertebrates in slow and fast flowing habitats between locations upstream and downstream of a weir on the Nymboida River, and along a nearby reference river lacking a weir, the Bellinger River. Survey results indicated that similar densities and diversity of benthic invertebrates occurred on either side of the weir, and that the fauna of the regulated Nymboida River resembled that of the reference Bellinger River. A flow manipulation experiment at two sites upstream and two sites downstream of Nymboida Weir showed that aquatic invertebrate taxa responded within seven days to increases or decreases in velocity. The capacity to respond to flow was not diminished downstream of the Nymboida Weir, indicating that 80 years of river regulation have not had a lasting effect on this aspect of river condition. Flow-dependent (rheophilic) invertebrates may be valuable indicators of an improvement in river condition under enhanced flows.

The development of a standardised means of collecting, analysing and presenting riverine, coastal and estuarine assessments of ecological condition has been identified as a key need for coastal Catchment Management Authorities and Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. This project was conducted over a 12 month period in the Hastings Camden-Haven region covering 14 river systems to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment. The project aimed to

• assess the health of coastal catchments using standardised indicators and reporting for estuaries, and freshwater river reaches using hydrology, water quality, riparian vegetation and habitat quality, and macroinvertebrates assemblages as indicators of ecosystem health in streams of the Hastings Camden-Haven region,
• contribute scientific information to the development of a report card system for communicating the health of the estuarine and freshwater systems in the Hastings Camden-Haven region.

The development of a standardised means of collecting, analysing and presenting riverine, coastal and estuarine assessments of ecological condition has been identified as a key need for coastal Catchment Management Authorities and Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. This project was conducted over an 18 month period in the Clarence catchment and nearby coastal river systems covering 88 sites across 37 river systems to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment.

The Clarence catchment was divided into 4 hydrologic units for reporting; Clarence main stem, Northern Tributaries, Coastal Tributaries and the Mann-Nymboida-Boyd systems. In addition, 5 small coastal systems (7 sites) in the Clarence LGA (but not in the Clarence catchment) were sampled only for water chemistry. The project aimed to

• Assess the health of coastal catchments using standardised indicators and reporting for estuaries, and freshwater river reaches using hydrology, water quality, riparian vegetation and habitat quality, and macroinvertebrates assemblages as indicators of ecosystem health in streams of the Clarence catchment, and
• Contribute scientific information to the development of a report card system for communicating the health of the estuarine and freshwater systems in the Clarence region.

The development of a standardised means of collecting, analysing and presenting riverine, coastal and estuarine assessments of ecological condition has been identified as a key need for coastal Catchment Management Authorities and Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. This project was conducted over a 12 month period in 2011 in the Coffs Harbour Region covering Bonville/Pine Creeks, Boambee/Newports Creeks, Coffs Creek, Moonee Creek, Hearnes Lake, Darkum Creek, Woolgoolga Lake, and Corindi/Saltwater Creeks to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment. The project aimed to

• Assess the health of coastal catchments using standardised indicators and reporting for estuaries, and freshwater river reaches using hydrology, water quality, riparian vegetation and habitat quality, and macroinvertebrates assemblages as indicators of ecosystem health in streams of the Coffs Harbour region, and
• Contribute scientific information to the development of a report card system for communicating the health of the estuarine and freshwater systems in the Coffs Harbour City Council region.