Tasmania

Northern Tasmania Chapter

Since early 2006 Surfrider Tasmania has mounted a professional, informed, and inclusive campaign to better understand what Gunns proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill would mean in terms of the impact on the marine environment, marine industries, and recreational stakeholders in Tasmania.

Surfrider Tasmania has played a major role in raising the level of debate on the mills potential marine impacts, holding Gunns accountable, educating the public, and informing State and Federal politicians.

Surfrider Tasmania spearhead the analysis of the potential impact of Gunns mill on the ocean environment.  SFA was the first to highlight major flaws in Gunns hydrodynamic modelling, motivated and assisted independent senior scientists from the CSIRO to go public with their own analyses and concerns, and played a key role in getting independent, expert scrutiny applied to Gunns flawed analyses and claims regarding it’s hydrodynamic modelling.
Gunns has, to date, failed to meet Federal requirements to operate the mill relating to hydrodynamic modelling, ocean measurements, background monitoring, effluent testing, and biota monitoring. However, Minister Garrett has approved construction of the $2 billion development and media reports (“Gunns set for pulp mill deal with Swedes” – The Australian, June 11, 2009) suggest Gunns is on the verge of signing a joint venture deal with Swedish firm Sodra.
To date Gunns has not done their homework on the ocean environment and so there is no certainty on what the impact of the industrial effluent disposed by Gunns will be on both Commonwealth waters and the Tasmanian coastline.  Multiple independent expert reports back Surfrider Tasmania’s concerns that highly concentrated pollutants could reach the coast.

Gunns’ Integrated Impact Study of the proposed pulp mill assumed zero human impact, yet we now have strong evidence that concentrated industrial effluent could end up on Tasmanian beaches.
For more information or to help with the campaign please contact:
Dr. Thomas Moore, 0409 681 127 or email: thomasmoore@netspace.net.au

Southern Tasmania Chapter

Ten years ago, the Surfrider Foundation began a campaign to address the massive problem of marine debris washing onto Tasmanian shorelines.

Apart from causing unsightly pollution on our beaches, marine debris causes the cruel death of untold numbers of marine mammals, birds, and fish.

Matt Dell, spokesperson for the Surfrider Foundation Tasmania said: “Surfrider Foundation has conducted a number of cleanups on the beaches in the South West Wilderness World Heritage Area. The cleanups provide an opportunity to analyse the trends in the types and concentrations of rubbish polluting the pristine beaches of the South West World Heritage Area.

The cleanup also provides a chance to interact with the fishermen working on the coast and an avenue for the fisherman to provide advice on how to reduce the impact of Marine Debris”.

The education of local fishermen has been identified as the key to addressing the problem of marine debris, and this year we have again enlisted local cray-fishermen Dave Wyatt, Kent Way, Dean Horton and Stuart Atkins to help raise the profile of this problem among their peers. Dave has been fishing on the West Coast of Tasmania for over 20 years and has provided the mothership for the cleanup since 2001.

As a result of these positive initiatives, Surfrider Foundation received ongoing funding from the Quiksilver Foundation to continue this important work. The support of the Quiksilver Foundation, Southern Ocean Adventures, the Wursthaus Kitchen and the Cascade Brewery is greatly appreciated.

This year we took twelve volunteers and published a daily online web blog of the trip for Coastalwatch.com, Surfrider Australia and an article in an upcoming Surfing World magazine.

For all the information on the cleanup, visit:

http://surfridertassiemarinedebriscleanup.wordpress.com/