Moreton Bay's values will be examined in a University of Queensland forum.

The University of Queensland forum aims to set a benchmark, suggest research priorities and set up actions that can help manage the bay and catchment.

UQ Centre for Marine Science director Associate Professor Ian Tibbetts said the forum would share the latest information about the bay with scientists, government and industry representatives, educators and the community.

“It’s timely that the second Moreton Bay (Quandamooka) Catchment Forum is being held when we have greater population pressures on this magnificent resource on our doorstep,” Dr Tibbetts said.

“We know that since 1996, when the first such forum was held, the region’s population has almost doubled, from 250,000 to 400,000.

“Monitoring and modelling by Healthy Waterways, researchers and community groups has already highlighted major environmental changes.

“...The forum will bring together knowledge about how the region is used and is changing, so we can predict and prepare to combat future challenges to sustainability.”

Impacts on the bay from development have been substantial. So much topsoil exposed by clearing for development and agriculture was ripped from south-east Queensland catchments during the 2011 floods, that it changed 50 sq km of Moreton Bay from sand to mud.

In the Redlands, residents say that development in the Eprapah Creek catchment has greatly deepened the waterway, pushing large amounts of soil into the bay.

Moreton Bay is internationally recognised for its biodiversity and is home to more than 600 dugongs and six of the world’s seven sea turtle species.

“Moreton Bay is a unique waterway,” Dr Tibbetts said. “It’s a relatively shallow body of water and acts like a semi-enclosed lagoon because it is separated from the ocean by sand islands.

“As a result, it accumulates sediment and nutrients, pollutants and litter that flow into the bay from 14 major river catchments.”