DEAR News Of The Area,

NICE to see a young man questioning inaccuracy in print (Col Nicholson, NOTA 13 April).

I too have risen to the occasion to question the same claims made by the Myall River Action Group in 2013.

I think it was.

Col, you should consider the totality of three back to back La Nina events, about 36 months of rain going down the drain of the bathtub called Myall Lakes.

My degree document states I am an Applied Geologist (Double Major in Geology and Chemistry).

My chosen specialisation was/is sedimentology and without boasting I was well enough trained to read rock and as well as the unconsolidated sediment, upon which Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens are built.

You might consider it nothing new, but as a result of climate change, according to the Smithsonian Institute (et al), sea level has risen some 13 to 20cm since 1900 and the rate at which it is rising is increasing.

The impact is more energy into the process of mass sediment movement which is basically in the direction of the ‘Short Cut’.

Some say King Canute wading into a rising tide was trying to hold it back, his non detractors said he was demonstrating you cannot hold back the tide, and such is the case with the idiocy of continued dredging of the ‘Short Cut’.

You might also consider that the Corrie Island channel was made to provide safe passage into the Myall River in all weather.

It was an economic consideration to collect the sawn up trees, and other cargo, I believe.

And if I may say, it’s an excellent voyage, in terms of the vista and relaxation by ferry to Nelson Bay and back, having done it more than once.

As to the loss of a RAMSAR site?

Go look at the Great Barrier Reef.

You will be here well after 2050 and will be able to see what ‘Human Nature’ has done to the Earth.

I do recommend Googling PBS PETM, because we are still on track to a ‘worst case’ scenario CO2 wise.

Respectfully yours,
Mervyn MCCONNOCHIE BSC (UNSW),
Karuah.