The Future of Cleveland Bay
Many locals assume that Cleveland Bay was always muddy. But long-time residents know, and historical records show, that Cleveland Bay was once, a clear water bay.
In the early 1960s the coral reefs of Magnetic Island were described as equal to anything that could be seen in the clear waters of the outer reef. Underwater visibility often exceeded 10 meters. (CW 1) It now rarely exceeds 2. (CW 2)
In 1964 the member for Townsville North, Perc Tucker, told State parliament that Magnetic Island’s tourist attractions “have been ruined” by the dumping of material dredged from Townsville harbour in Cleveland Bay. (CW 3) 53 years later it continues. Our once spectacular coral reef flats on the south-eastern side of Magnetic Island are now largely mud and algae.
The Port of Townsville Ltd now wants to increase the shipping channel’s width. This would increase the muddy spoil from annual maintenance dredging by at least 14%, forever! (CW 4) This mud will continue to be dumped in the shallow water between Magnetic Island and Cape Cleveland where currents and tides wash it back into the bay and around the Island. (CW 5)
Between 2004 and 2014 the Port has dumped 4,453,164 cubic meters of dredge spoil between Magnetic Island and Cleveland Bay. (CW 6)
Cleveland Bay’s marine life and natural beauty is surely one of the great reasons we love our city. It’s the bathers, fishers, snorkelers, divers, boaties and many more who, along with our marine environment, will lose out to muddier water. Townsville will lose more of its natural appeal and this affects local jobs – particularly in tourism. So should our wider community and environment be made to carry the environmental costs of the Port’s business?
The Port is close to gaining approval for an expansion that will make our once clear water bay even muddier. If this expansion is approved it will lock in the long-term degradation of Cleveland Bay and the coral reefs of Magnetic Island. Is Cairns’ muddy Esplanade a goal we should be aiming for? (CW 7)
A short term solution which deserves serious study would be to take the maintenance dredge spoil into deeper waters – less disturbed by waves and inshore currents. This might reduce damage to the bay’s high value fringing reefs, and allow some recovery while sustainable solutions are developed.
In the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, the State Government commits to “approve only port projects that are commercially viable”. (CW 8) Where is the business case for the expansion?
A long-term Port Master Plan is currently being prepared under the new legislation. Its integrity should not be compromised by a premature approval for a long-term project that can’t be justified.
If you’d prefer to see environmental protection that would make us proud of our Port, and put an end to over 50 years of damaging mud dumping in our bay, we urge you to let our politicians know – and soon!
Tell your local members, The Premier, the Minister for State Development, the Minister for Ports, and the Environment Minister to delay all further consideration of a port expansion until Townsville Port shows it can sustainably manage the dredge spoil from its current channel, and help Cleveland Bay to become clear again.
See below for contact details/links for politicians.
References:
CW 1
Silt Pollution – The destruction of Magnetic Island’s coral fringing reefs by Theo W. Brown (1972) p39. See the full report here.
CW 2
The 2013 State water quality standard for Geoffrey Bay is a visibility of 1.2 metres. (State Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009. Ross River Basin and Magnetic Island Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives (2013)). The AEIS says visibility around the eastern side of Magnetic Island is typically around 70- 85 cm (Table 19.4, p230).
CW 3
State Parliament of Queensland Hansard, 3 November 1964, pages 1192-1193.
CW 4
Townsville Port Expansion Project Additional Information to the Environmental Impact Statement (October 2016).
CW 5
Fig. 116 in Improved Dredge Material Management for the Great Barrier Reef Region. Appendix E. Modelling Sediment Migration from Current and Hypothetical Alternative Placement Sites. SKM and APASA 12th July 2013.
CW 6
Table 4 in Maintenance Dredging Strategy for Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Ports (2016). Between and including 2004 and 2014 a total of 4,453,164m3 was dredged, averaging 404,000 m3 a year. The expansion will increase the annual maintenance dredging to at least 500,000 m3.
CW 7
“On the issue of disposal of dredge spoil, the available science does list it as a significant risk in a local setting. It does change the regions up to perhaps 10 kilometres away from the port. That is visible if you wander out and look at the Townsville Port and have it explained to you where the mangroves and mud banks came from on southern and western Magnetic Island, for instance, or the expansive mud flats of Cairns. There is no question that they have a significant local effect.”
Dr Russell Reichelt, Chair and CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in an extract from Hansard, Senate Environmental and Communications Reference Committee, Great Barrier Reef, Wednesday 23 July 2014, Townsville.
CW 8
The Queensland Government commits in the joint State and Federal Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan to require “all proponents of new dredging works to demonstrate their project is commercially viable prior to commencement” (WQA20 p27 in Appendix1).
In the early 1960s the coral reefs of Magnetic Island were described as equal to anything that could be seen in the clear waters of the outer reef. Underwater visibility often exceeded 10 meters. (CW 1) It now rarely exceeds 2. (CW 2)
In 1964 the member for Townsville North, Perc Tucker, told State parliament that Magnetic Island’s tourist attractions “have been ruined” by the dumping of material dredged from Townsville harbour in Cleveland Bay. (CW 3) 53 years later it continues. Our once spectacular coral reef flats on the south-eastern side of Magnetic Island are now largely mud and algae.
The Port of Townsville Ltd now wants to increase the shipping channel’s width. This would increase the muddy spoil from annual maintenance dredging by at least 14%, forever! (CW 4) This mud will continue to be dumped in the shallow water between Magnetic Island and Cape Cleveland where currents and tides wash it back into the bay and around the Island. (CW 5)
Between 2004 and 2014 the Port has dumped 4,453,164 cubic meters of dredge spoil between Magnetic Island and Cleveland Bay. (CW 6)
Cleveland Bay’s marine life and natural beauty is surely one of the great reasons we love our city. It’s the bathers, fishers, snorkelers, divers, boaties and many more who, along with our marine environment, will lose out to muddier water. Townsville will lose more of its natural appeal and this affects local jobs – particularly in tourism. So should our wider community and environment be made to carry the environmental costs of the Port’s business?
The Port is close to gaining approval for an expansion that will make our once clear water bay even muddier. If this expansion is approved it will lock in the long-term degradation of Cleveland Bay and the coral reefs of Magnetic Island. Is Cairns’ muddy Esplanade a goal we should be aiming for? (CW 7)
A short term solution which deserves serious study would be to take the maintenance dredge spoil into deeper waters – less disturbed by waves and inshore currents. This might reduce damage to the bay’s high value fringing reefs, and allow some recovery while sustainable solutions are developed.
In the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, the State Government commits to “approve only port projects that are commercially viable”. (CW 8) Where is the business case for the expansion?
A long-term Port Master Plan is currently being prepared under the new legislation. Its integrity should not be compromised by a premature approval for a long-term project that can’t be justified.
If you’d prefer to see environmental protection that would make us proud of our Port, and put an end to over 50 years of damaging mud dumping in our bay, we urge you to let our politicians know – and soon!
Tell your local members, The Premier, the Minister for State Development, the Minister for Ports, and the Environment Minister to delay all further consideration of a port expansion until Townsville Port shows it can sustainably manage the dredge spoil from its current channel, and help Cleveland Bay to become clear again.
See below for contact details/links for politicians.
References:
CW 1
Silt Pollution – The destruction of Magnetic Island’s coral fringing reefs by Theo W. Brown (1972) p39. See the full report here.
CW 2
The 2013 State water quality standard for Geoffrey Bay is a visibility of 1.2 metres. (State Environmental Protection (Water) Policy 2009. Ross River Basin and Magnetic Island Environmental Values and Water Quality Objectives (2013)). The AEIS says visibility around the eastern side of Magnetic Island is typically around 70- 85 cm (Table 19.4, p230).
CW 3
State Parliament of Queensland Hansard, 3 November 1964, pages 1192-1193.
CW 4
Townsville Port Expansion Project Additional Information to the Environmental Impact Statement (October 2016).
CW 5
Fig. 116 in Improved Dredge Material Management for the Great Barrier Reef Region. Appendix E. Modelling Sediment Migration from Current and Hypothetical Alternative Placement Sites. SKM and APASA 12th July 2013.
CW 6
Table 4 in Maintenance Dredging Strategy for Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Ports (2016). Between and including 2004 and 2014 a total of 4,453,164m3 was dredged, averaging 404,000 m3 a year. The expansion will increase the annual maintenance dredging to at least 500,000 m3.
CW 7
“On the issue of disposal of dredge spoil, the available science does list it as a significant risk in a local setting. It does change the regions up to perhaps 10 kilometres away from the port. That is visible if you wander out and look at the Townsville Port and have it explained to you where the mangroves and mud banks came from on southern and western Magnetic Island, for instance, or the expansive mud flats of Cairns. There is no question that they have a significant local effect.”
Dr Russell Reichelt, Chair and CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in an extract from Hansard, Senate Environmental and Communications Reference Committee, Great Barrier Reef, Wednesday 23 July 2014, Townsville.
CW 8
The Queensland Government commits in the joint State and Federal Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan to require “all proponents of new dredging works to demonstrate their project is commercially viable prior to commencement” (WQA20 p27 in Appendix1).
Contact details for local members, The Premier, the Minister for State Development, the Minister for Ports and the Minister for the Environment.
LOCAL
Cr Jenny Hill
Mayor of the City of Townsville
Infrastructure, Planning and Development and Environment Committees
[email protected]
Cr. Ann-Maree Greaney
Magnetic Island Representitive - Planning and development, Environment
[email protected]
Scott Stewart
State Member for Townsville, chair of the Tourism Committee
[email protected]
STATE
Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk
Premier
[email protected]
Hon Dr Anthony Lynham
Minister for State Development, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
[email protected]
Hon Mark Bailey
Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports
[email protected]
Hon Dr Steven Miles
Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef
[email protected]
FEDERAL
Ms Cathy O’Toole MP
Federal Member for Herbert and member of the Northern Australia Committee
T: (02) 6277 2296
F: (02) 6277 8536
[email protected]
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
LOCAL
Cr Jenny Hill
Mayor of the City of Townsville
Infrastructure, Planning and Development and Environment Committees
[email protected]
Cr. Ann-Maree Greaney
Magnetic Island Representitive - Planning and development, Environment
[email protected]
Scott Stewart
State Member for Townsville, chair of the Tourism Committee
[email protected]
STATE
Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk
Premier
[email protected]
Hon Dr Anthony Lynham
Minister for State Development, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
[email protected]
Hon Mark Bailey
Minister for Main Roads, Road Safety and Ports
[email protected]
Hon Dr Steven Miles
Environment and Heritage Protection and Minister for National Parks and the Great Barrier Reef
[email protected]
FEDERAL
Ms Cathy O’Toole MP
Federal Member for Herbert and member of the Northern Australia Committee
T: (02) 6277 2296
F: (02) 6277 8536
[email protected]
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
