Myall River languishes as warnings continue to go unheeded Myall Coast Myall Coast - popup ad Myall Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - September 21, 2023 The Corrie Island Passage, once just a natural creek, is also visibly narrowing. Photo: John Grainger. DIRE straits are possibly ahead for the Myall River, as warnings continue to go publicly unheeded and no visible action has occurred to prevent its inevitable closure. Since the most recent series of News Of The Area (NOTA) reports directly concerning the state of the river began back in April, nothing consequential has been done nor planned, according to all publicly available information and local interest groups. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au While there was a meeting involving at least two State Government Ministers and a wide cross-section of the Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest community recently, all attendees have seemingly been gagged by Non-Disclosure Agreements. “The Myall River Action Group (MRAG) has arranged a meeting with Kate Washington in early October, to see the future direction,” Gordon Grainger of the Myall River Action Group, which was not present at the 31 August meeting, told NOTA. Ms Washington’s office was contacted over a week ago, but no response has been received. Several articles published in NOTA and the Newcastle Herald mean that the urgency of the river’s status cannot possibly be a secret to anyone by now. Local ferry skipper Noel Gaunt has been quoted directly, in such publications, on his sobering prediction that the river’s entrance will become unusable by Christmas 2023. The dense bureaucratic matrix, encompassing over a dozen organisations across all levels of government, has also yet to be addressed. The $4.2 billion Sand Transfer System still sits at Winda Woppa, a silent white elephant watching the adjacent stockpile slowly tumble back into the river’s mouth with every high tide and wind. A new issue causing alarm is the death of mangroves along the river’s edge, visible from the Singing Bridge. MRAG has shared more recent drone photographs updating the narrowing of the Natural Channel, and claims that dingoes are now able to cross the shallow waters to Corrie Island, ready to make a meal out of the RAMSAR-protected shorebirds that call the island home. By Thomas O’KEEFE Drone photo showing the Natural Channels’ sand build up lately, visible ‘sand waves’ at either end. Photo: John Grainger. A dingo spotted on the shores of Corrie Island. Photo: John Grainger. New problem: Mangrove death along the river, visible from the Singing Bridge.
Mangrove communities can experience dieback from natural and human-related causes. Mangrove dieback can have many causes such as weather, insects and disease, nutrients, pollution, climate change, rapid siltation and changes to sea level and tides. Never seen a forest die? Get used to it. Reply
