Ask Jason

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Dear Jason

When the dredge was bought up to Port Douglas to reopen the Dickenson’s inlet mouth several years ago, why wasn’t the same dredge taken a few Kilometres North to the mouth of the Mossman River between Newell Beach and Cooya Beach?

From: Fishpest Glenn, Mossman.

Response from State Member for Cook, Jason O'Brien.

Hi, this is in response to your query re the dredging at Newell Beach.

Trial dredging of an access channel to Newell Beach boat ramp was completed on 26 September 2011. The work was carried out by Riverglen Dredging Pty Ltd, which has dredges permanently based in Cairns.

These works included the removal of approximately 3000 cubic metres of material and placement of this material on Newell Beach as beach nourishment.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads initially applied for environmental approvals to remove 15,000 cubic metres to provide a long term benefit. However, approval agencies indicated that this application would not be supported because of the location of the works within the conservation area of the State Marine Park.

For this reason the project was reduced to the dredging of a limited access channel. The department was aware this option may have a limited serviceable life and for this reason it was treated as a trial, and included monitoring to assess the infill rates.

A monitoring survey was undertaken on 7 November 2011 which showed the dredged channel was largely unaffected by infill. Another monitoring survey is planned for April 2012 to assess the channel following the wet season.

Should monitoring indicate that rapid infill has occurred, then the department will use this information to approach approval agencies to support approvals for a larger scope of works.

The locals we've spoken to say it's all good. Hope this is of assistance.

Jason

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