![]() ![]() Recent dredging in Miami, USA has led to disease, smothering and death of the corals in the region. Recent evidence has also shown a doubling of the incidence of coral disease close to dredged areas. Sediment will cut light for photosynthesis of seagrasses and coral symbionts and will smother both recruit and adult corals and other benthic animals. Plumes of sediment result, causing movement of whatever is held in these port sediments, potentially poisons and elevated nutrients. The sea bed is removed, along with seagrass and animals. Much of the focus has been on the effects of dumping the dredge spoil, but this is not the only detrimental action. Dumping dredge spoil not the only problem Similarly, options for onshore dumping further inland have not been mentioned. The other options for port facilities at Abbot Point, such as trestles requiring little or no dredging, were dismissed as being too expensive, without a comprehensive assessment of the risks or benefits. There are few details yet on the new dumping plan, but the site is adjacent to the sensitive Caley Wetland and still close to the sea, so will not be without problems. The new government intends to continue with dredging for Abbot Point and the Galilee Basin Coal mines for which it is being built. ![]() Under the previous state government, the dumping of 5 million tonnes of dredge spoil in the sea for the massive expansion of the Abbot Point Coal Port was abandoned in favour of dumping 3 million tonnes on Caley Wetland, with a new suite of devastating problems. A ban from the World Heritage Area would be more meaningful. ![]() However of the nearly 6.4 million cubic metres of spoil dumped since 2010, around 84% has been dumped outside the Marine Park but in the World Heritage Area. Meanwhile the federal government continues to make efforts to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the World Heritage In Danger list, on Monday announcing laws to ban dredging within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, excluding maintenance dredging at established ports. Queensland Labor’s new plan to dump Abbot Point dredge spoil on land announced last week, and not at sea or in sensitive wetlands as under previous proposals, is a welcome one, but it will do little to stem the flow of damage to the Great Barrier Reef. ![]()
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