Kerynne Birch

Manager, Coastal and Marine Assessments
Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (QLD)

Kerynne Birch has worked in biosecurity and environmental regulatory roles in both Federal and State Government Agencies for 14 years and at the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) for the last 6 years. Whilst working for EHP, Kerynne specialised in the regulation of coastal development, dredging, water treatment and sewage treatment. Since September 2014, Kerynne has been the manager of the Coastal and Marine Assessment Team within the Environmental Services and Regulation Division of EHP. Kerynne’s team undertakes assessment of all coastal development, non-government organisation dredging, aquaculture, wetland protection area works and allocations of quarry material within Queensland. Assessment of these activities involves provision of advice to the State Assessment Referral Agency within the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (coastal development and wetland protection area works) and direct regulation (environmental authorities for dredging and aquaculture and allocation of quarry materials).

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Kerynne.

Download The Latest Agenda

Conference Day One: Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Saturday, March 11th, 2017

11:30 Managing your dredging permit in Queensland

An explanation of the legislative and monitoring requirements for dredging permits
Managing your dredging permit to maintain currency with best practice environmental management and changing policy
Cooperating with Queensland administering authorities to minimise dredging permit requirements and maximising value-adding

13:50 Panel Discussion: Reaching and maintaining environmental approval of dredging activities to ensure the longevity of ports

Communicating with your regulator to determine regulatory expectations and mitigate disputes
Addressing non-compliance quickly to prevent a reduction in approval
Staying up-to-date with policy changes to prevent incidental non-compliance

Conference Day Two: Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Tuesday, April 11th, 2017

14:40 Panel Discussion: The future of dredging in Australia and the potential uses of dredge material

The need for dredging and dredge material for flood management using dykes, break walls and embankments
The installation of off-shore wind-farms using dredge technology
Examining the types of future regulation that will govern capital, maintenance dredging and disposal options
The potential use of dredging activity for environmental enhancement e.g. intertidal areas and sea grass meadows

Interactive Workshops: Thursday, 17 November 2016

Thursday, May 11th, 2017

08:00 Workshop A: Achieving application approval on the first attempt: Reducing rejection by improving pre-project assessment

It can be difficult to proceed with applying for capital dredge projects when the prospect of potentially years of planning and data gathering could still result in application rejection. This workshop is appropriate for those currently in the planning stages of their project. Reduce lead time and improve efficiency by ensuring that those initial environmental approvals for dredging aren’t knocked back because of insufficient site investigation or a history of non-compliance.

The workshop will cover:

Introductionto and application of Queensland government regulations
Discussingappropriate monitoring and assessment methodologies according to the types ofbiological sensitive receptors adjacent to dredging
Strategiesfor maintaining best practice environmental management in your current projectmanagement plans