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 Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. Forty-four study sites were selected across the Macleay catchment; 32 freshwater sites and 12 estuarine sites and these were sampled 6 times from April 2015 to February 2016 to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment.

The Macleay River Catchment was divided into four major hydrological units across 22 subcatchments: Tablelands, Macleay River main stem, freshwater tributaries and the estuarine tributaries. 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, geomorphic condition and macroinvertebrate assemblages as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, and
• Contribute scientific information to the development of a report card system for communicating the health of the estuarine and freshwater systems in the Macleay catchment.

The lack of scientific knowledge on the flow thresholds and environmental water requirements for specific water sources within the North Coast is a significant limitation in the allocation and implementation of environmental flows. This uncertainty, the limited volume of ECA water and changing NRM platforms has resulted in the limited use of environmental flow allocations and monitoring to date. The aim of this review is to evaluate the existing scientific knowledge of the environmental flow requirements of the regulated water sources; in the Hunter, Chichester and Paterson Rivers, and Glennies Creek in the Hunter-Central Rivers CMA region and parts of the Richmond River in the Northern Rivers CMA region. Outcomes will inform the future development of environmental flow monitoring and research, and decision-making about the management of environmental flows in the North Coast of NSW.

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 Local Councils who are required to monitor natural resource condition, and water quality and quantity in these systems. Thirty-one study sites were selected across the Coffs coastal catchment; 11 freshwater sites and 20 estuarine sites. These sites were sampled 8 times from September 2014 to December 2015 to contribute to the assessment of the ecological condition of the catchment.

The 14 Coffs coastal catchments were divided into 9 hydrologic units for reporting: Corindi River, Saltwater Creek and Pipeclay Lake; Arrawarra Creek; Darkum Creek; Woolgoolga Creek; Willis Creek and Hearnes Lake; Moonee Creek; Coffs Creek; Boambee and Newports Creeks; and Bonville and Pine Creeks. 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, geomorphic condition and macroinvertebrate assemblages as indicators of aquatic ecosystem health, 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 region.