One of Australia’s leading marine pollutant and reef water scientists has issued a dire warning about the health of Queensland's prawn industry in the wake of the latest CSIRO report into pesticides in the state's waterways.

Professor Jon Brodie heads up James Cook University’s Catchment to Reef Processes Research Group and warned that authorities needed to act immediately to control new pesticides flowing into rivers.

Leading marine pollutant scientist Professor Jon Brodie, chief scientist from James Cook University's Catchment to Reef Processes team.

Professor Brodie was responding to 2017 CSIRO laboratory test results reported in the February 2018 edition of the journal Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety.

The report showed pesticide run-off from farms was affecting crustaceans' nervous systems and killing tiger prawn larvae when they were exposed to the level of pesticides found in the major Queensland waterways, with the potential to have a major impact on the state's $80 million prawn industry.