- Federal Environment Minister, the Honourable Peter Garrett MP
The Great Sandy Strait lies between the western fringes of World Heritage Listed Fraser Island and the south-east Queensland coast. Most of its eastern side is within the World Heritage Area and its beauty and unique ecology attract thousands of tourists annually.
It is listed under the Ramsar Convention as a Wetland of International Significance and is also one of Australia’s most important nesting sites for migratory trans-equatorial shorebirds. The list goes on.
So why does it need saving?
Last year the Queensland Government announced plans to dam the Mary River; a system upon which the Strait depends to sustain its complex ecosystem.
Environmental flows from the Mary play a crucial role in sustaining the marine ecosystems of this site and the extraordinary diversity of life they support. These flows have already been hindered by other forms of infrastructure upstream of the Mary, and any further reduction would be devastating. Disrupting the natural equilibrium between fresh and saline water would spell disaster for threatened marine species, and along with them, the nature-based tourism industries of the region. This would undermine the basis of the economy and threaten the future of communities in the area.
In summary, the construction of a mega dam on the Mary River would:
1. Significantly impede environment flows
2. Impact on Matters of National Environmental Significance
3. Violate State and Federal Government legislation
4. Obstruct the natural equilibrium between fresh and saline water
5. Prevent natural flood events
6. Change the volume and frequency of sediment load
7. Increase the degradation of coastal deltas, &
8. Impact on existing tourism and fisheries industries.
As signatory to a number of binding state, national and international legislations, Australia has committed to protecting the Great Sandy Strait to ensure its special ecological values are maintained. Such commitments, however, would be severely compromised by the construction of a mega dam on the Mary River.
We, the undersigned, call on the Australian Government to say NO to damming the Mary River.
The Save the Great Sandy Strait petition to Federal Environment Minister, the Honourable Peter Garrett MP was written by E. Berry and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.