Outer Harbor dredging and dumping go-ahead ‘an environmental catastrophe’
CONTROVERSIAL dredging and dumping operations — at Outer Harbor and out to sea — have been given the go-ahead by the State Government in a move condemned by opponents as “tragic” and “devastating”.
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- Controversial dredge of Outer Harbor shipping channel approved
- Port River dredging plan stirs up environmental fears
- Flinders Ports agrees to different method
CONTROVERSIAL dredging and dumping operations — at Outer Harbor and out to sea — have been given the go-ahead by the State Government in a move condemned by opponents as “tragic” and “devastating”.
They fear that Flinders Ports’ plan to dredge the Port River and dump the spoil in Gulf St Vincent will be an environmental catastrophe.
Planning Minister Stephan Knoll has signed off on the proposal from Flinders Ports, with construction likely to start next year and take up to six months.
Mr Knoll said widening the channel would “grow SA’s economy and support more jobs”.
The private port operator wants to widen the Outer Harbor channel by 40m to cater for a growing number of larger ships coming into port.
The traffic count has increased from 185 such vessels in 2016 to an expected 312 in 2018.
Flinders Ports’ plan requires dredging 1.5 million cubic metres of silt from the Port River, then spewing it into the sea 38km offshore.
But the Environment Protection Authority says this will destroy up to 250ha of sea grass — a vital fish breeding habitat.
Mr Knoll said the company had “learnt a whole heap of lessons from 2005”, when 2000ha of seagrass was destroyed.
“This decision is light years ahead of what happened back then,” Mr Knoll said.
“There is an inevitable loss of sea grass, which will be contained to the points that they are dredging.”
Opponents of the project fear a repeat of Flinders Ports’ last dredge, in 2005, which killed 2000ha of seagrass and wiped out fish stocks.
Port Adelaide Enfield mayor Gary Johanson, local environment groups and the fishing industry have called for dumping on land instead.
Port Adelaide MP Susan Close wrote to Mr Knoll in April requesting the development be declared a major project to “increase the environmental impact scrutiny and the transparency of information about the project and its likely effect”.
“(I am) so disappointed that the Liberal government has approved Outer Harbor dredging and sea-dumping the spoil — not only without using a process that would have given more community input, but without even replying to my letter asking that this happen,” Dr Close said.
Mr Johanson said the decision was “pretty devastating” because there was “a better outcome out there for everyone”.
“Any sort of activity like this is definitely going to affect the Gulf to its detriment — just what level of detriment remains to be seen,” he said.
“I would rather we didn’t take the risk.”
Mr Johanson said it had been a “huge issue” during the state election and yet the Liberal Party “never commented on it”.
South Australian Blue Crabpot Fishers Association president Karen Holder said the last dredging “definitely had an impact” on the local crabbing industry.
“We feel like a big business is overriding the needs of the community,” Mrs Holder said.
Port Adelaide Residents Environment Protection Group president Tony Bazeley said it was “particularly tragic” that the material was about to be dumped now when water quality of the Port River was “coming back” after years of pollution.
“It’s unfortunate that this operation is going to set it back,” Mr Bazeley said.
At a community meeting a fortnight ago, Flinders Ports consultant John Haese said it was “totally uneconomically viable” to dump the spoil on land. He said the spoil was 80 per cent liquid and would have to be dried and stored before it could be used as fill.
“The make-up of the material we are removing … is not suitable for engineering purposes,” Mr Haese said.
He said Flinders Ports was hoping to start the operation in June 2019.
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