Dredging Not to Blame for Sick Fish
Announcement posted by DesignBuild Source 10 May 2012
Queensland
Dredging activity at Gladstone Harbour is not to blame for diseased fish, the Queensland government says.
Environment groups and fishermen have raised concerns that dredging may be responsible for the appearance of sick fish and other ill marine life in the area.
The harbour is being dredged by the Gladstone Ports Corporation so as to increase shipping capacity in order to make way for two natural gas plants on Curtis Island.
Releasing the results of sediment tests on Friday, which were taken from a range of sites and analysed for hundreds of potential contaminants, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) says that it was unlikely dredging was causing illness in marine life.
“These results show that sediment in Port Curtis (also known as Gladstone Harbour) generally contains low amounts of contamination which means that dredging is not releasing contaminants into the waters at concentrations likely to cause environmental harm,” EHP director-general Andrew Chesterman says.
The Gladstone Ports Corporation agrees, saying tidal activity rather than dredging had been responsible for pushing turbidity levels around the vicinity of the port to above acceptable levels.
The department’s claims follow a decision on Thursday to increase allowable turbidity levels in the harbour, with EHP saying that original turbidity levels at two dredging sites had been very conservative....
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Environment groups and fishermen have raised concerns that dredging may be responsible for the appearance of sick fish and other ill marine life in the area.
The harbour is being dredged by the Gladstone Ports Corporation so as to increase shipping capacity in order to make way for two natural gas plants on Curtis Island.
Releasing the results of sediment tests on Friday, which were taken from a range of sites and analysed for hundreds of potential contaminants, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) says that it was unlikely dredging was causing illness in marine life.
“These results show that sediment in Port Curtis (also known as Gladstone Harbour) generally contains low amounts of contamination which means that dredging is not releasing contaminants into the waters at concentrations likely to cause environmental harm,” EHP director-general Andrew Chesterman says.
The Gladstone Ports Corporation agrees, saying tidal activity rather than dredging had been responsible for pushing turbidity levels around the vicinity of the port to above acceptable levels.
The department’s claims follow a decision on Thursday to increase allowable turbidity levels in the harbour, with EHP saying that original turbidity levels at two dredging sites had been very conservative....
Continue Reading