Fresh tests ordered for cancer-causing chemicals at popular Sydney beach

The state’s environment watchdog has ordered testing at a popular beach next to Sydney Airport amid concerns that young families are swimming and fishermen are casting their lines in water that may be polluted with cancer-causing “forever chemicals”.

It will be the first time since 2018 that the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) will undertake testing of Botany Bay. Six years ago, it released dietary advice for fish caught in the area after per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were found in some species of fish, including mulloway, estuary perch and silver trevally.

However, it was several years after that advice – which remains current – before warning signs were installed at the fishing spot known as Tower Beach, which is also a drawcard for young families who swim and paddle in the calm waters adjacent to the airport.

Fisherman Jack Martin at Tower Beach.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The signs, which are partially obscured by bushes, say “No swimming, no fishing” and were erected by the airport in 2023 as a “precautionary measure” amid ongoing concerns about water contamination as a result of a pool of poisonous water under the airport.

The Minns government ordered the new round of testing after the Herald revealed last week that young families and fishermen were regulars to the beach, seemingly oblivious to the potential exposure to PFAS.

The strip of beach has the official name Commonwealth Beach, but it is better known as Tower Beach or Planespotting Beach because it abuts an airport control tower. The beach, in Bayside City Council area, does not form part of the land leased by Sydney Airport.

The council, however, did not respond to questions about whether it was confident the beach was safe for swimming. Official state government maps show the beach is not on Sydney Airport land.

“All questions about the beach, contamination issues and onsite signage should be directed to Sydney Airport or the Environmental Protection Authority,” the council said in a statement.

The EPA advice says fishing could continue in Botany Bay but “due to the elevated levels of PFAS in Australian salmon caught in Botany Bay, it is recommended that this species is catch and release only”.

“Regular consumers should follow the precautionary dietary advice to minimise their exposure to PFAS. Please note, the advice ... is if one single species is eaten per week. Eating multiple species would result in a greater exposure,” the advice notice says.

A spokesperson for the EPA said the NSW government “proactively tested commonly caught fish in Botany Bay and the Georges River, including Tower Beach, in response to concerns about potential PFAS contamination”.

“The current precautionary dietary advice remains in place, however PFAS use in firefighting foam is being phased out and any offsite impacts have been reduced over the last few years,” the spokesperson said.

“The EPA will arrange for further testing to confirm the precautionary dietary advice is still valid.”

PFAS substances are better known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down in the environment, and are linked with cancer, high cholesterol and immune system dysfunction.

Despite the fish consumption warnings and the signs, families with young children continue to splash in the water alongside top racehorses while fishermen still cast their lines into Tower Beach, on the Botany Bay foreshore.

Keen fisherman Jack Martin lives in Coogee, but is a regular at Tower Beach, describing it as the “only real spot I can go where there are no beachgoers”.

“I’m drawn here because there’s not many people. It’s not a bad spot for fishing,” Martin told the Herald this week.

Martin was unaware of any concerns over contamination until the Herald informed him, and pointed out a sign stopping visitors from taking oysters off the beach.

He said he would continue recreational fishing, but does not eat any of his catches.

“I probably wouldn’t swim around here anyway, but I would still fish.”

Tower Beach is less than 200 metres from one of several firefighting stations at the airport where PFAS chemicals were historically used or stored in foam.

The Herald revealed in 2018 that the airport pollution contains some of the highest PFAS concentrations found to date in Australia because of the use of firefighting foam.

A partially bent no swimming and fishing sign at Tower Beach.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

The EPA has long expressed frustration with the federal government’s handling of the investigation into the plume of PFAS under the airport.

It has had no power to compel investigations because the airport is on Commonwealth land and regulated by the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.

Operators of Australian airports have also fired broadsides at the federal government, arguing it is failing to enforce the “polluter pays” principle when PFAS are discovered on airport land.

The federal government defended its actions, saying it had committed more than $130 million towards investigating the problem, arguing risks were being “appropriately managed”.

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