Scientific panels and their use in environmental flow assessment in Australia

Abstract

‘Scientific’ or ‘Expert’ Panels have played an important role in water resource management in Australia in recent years. Scientific Panels have been an excellent knowledge exchange mechanism, providing a synthesis of multidisciplinary information and expertise on various river management issues, such as approaches to river rehabilitation, the setting of river health objectives or in developing environmental flow recommendations for regulated rivers. Many Panels have been convened to provide recommendations on environmental flows for regulated river systems within a relatively short time frame (eg rapid appraisals over 6–12 months) because of demanding Federal and State initiatives. As rapid appraisals utilise best-available information, they can be limited by the quality of existing information and the experience of Panel members. Indeed, many Scientific Panels are consistently confronted with the same range of information or knowledge gaps, particularly on the relationship between flow regime and the distribution and abundance of biota. The usefulness of Scientific Panels, as applied to river management issues such as environmental flow assessment, may decline unless there is investment to overcome key knowledge gaps such as the preferred flow regime of important riverine species or communities. The ongoing use of Scientific Panels for determining environmental flows would also be bolstered by the development of a clear process for selecting Panel members, protocols to guide the conduct of Panels, and the training of scientists to perform rapid appraisals of environmental flow requirements.