TRANSPORT for NSW is pumping sand from the Coffs Harbour Regional Boat Ramp to Gallows Beach in the latest attempt to keep the multi-million-dollar facility from silting up.

The sand is being dredged and pumped to the northern corner of Gallows Beach via a purpose-built pipeline that has been deemed the least environmentally harmful and most cost-effective solution to keep the boat ramp open.

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In signage erected at Gallows, Transport for NSW explains: “This pump and pipeline installation is a trial which will monitor any effects of discharging sand in this area and the overall contribution to beach nourishment as the sand enters the northern littoral drift.”

One resident who observed the operation described it as “a stream of stinking black sludgy sand” that drifted south along Gallows Beach.

The dredging is due to run until this Saturday, 21 December, when it will be paused for the Christmas holiday period. The boat ramp will remain open.

Transport for NSW said the channel for vessels would be reassessed in early January 2025, with progress updates provided to the community in the new year.

Meanwhile, boaters and waterway users are being urged to stay clear of the cutter suction vessel located near the boat ramp, plan their trips to avoid low tide, and assess conditions before using the channel.

Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh said dredging would remain a feature of the harbour for as long as the north and south breakwalls remained in place.

“Sand is naturally trapped in the harbour and needs to be mechanically removed, either by a large dredge or a small-scale dredge, like what is happening at the boat ramp at the moment,” Mr Singh said.

“This will be an ongoing feature of the harbour into the future.”

He said the boat ramp sand build-up was “a symptom of a much larger problem – sand coming into the harbour”. The primary short-term goal was to have a boat ramp that was “open, usable and safe”.

The Coffs Harbour Sand Management Plan produced by Transport for NSW in late 2022 indicated sand build-up of up to 20,000 cubic metres a year in the outer harbour.

Closer to shore, along Jetty Beach, sand was building up at between 2000 and 4000 cubic metres a year.

“What we really need to move to in the future is an automated sand pumping system that dredges the harbour without requiring expensive manual dredging, similar to the system they’ve got up in Tweed Heads,” Mr Singh said.

He said such a system would mimic the natural flow of sand northward and ensure that beaches such as Park Beach and north to Korora were replenished, rather than have the sand trapped in the harbour.

Mr Singh said he was fighting to have the harbour dredged as part of an existing statewide program, and wanted Coffs Harbour at the top of the priority list.

“The harbour needs a significant amount of sand taken out of it at the moment,” he said. “That will probably require a ship-based dredge coming in and taking the sand out and dumping it at sea, as has happened many times in the past.

“The State Government has indicated they are looking at prioritising certain places over others and I think Coffs Harbour needs to be at the top of that priority list.”

By Mike HELY