Reduced fertiliser use linked to cleaner water flowing to Great Barrier Reef

Separate studies claim to show a connection between improved water quality in catchments along Queensland's Great Barrier Reef and farmers changing the way they fertilise their crops.

Phil Copp/Getty Imagine a plume of brown sediment is washed off the land into Queensland rivers and carried out to sea. Here, it can settle on seagrass and inshore corals, potentially smothering them. River water often also carries nitrogen from fertiliser residue, which can fuel algal growth and damage coral health. W