This is not what we need in Coos Bay, the local fisheries have been hit hard enough. Fishermen plead with the government to close the harbour to fishing for at least three years due to sick fish attributed to contamination from natural gas processing.
Lawyers working for professional fishers and crabbers told the Government in June that Gladstone Harbour should be shut to commercial fishing for three years to protect the reputation of their seafood brand and allow sediment from the LNG development to settle.
But the closure depended on compensation for fishermen, the letter to the Department of Environment and Resource Management’s Co-ordinator General – and leaked to The Sunday Mail – reveals.
Months after the report was handed to the Co-ordinator General, and commercial fishermen threatened to go public to reveal they had caught fish and crabs that were blind and had ulcers, the Government last month closed the port area to fishing temporarily.
The ban came after fisherman were made ill from handling fish they said were suffering from contamination created by dredging linked with building up to five LNG treatment plants in the harbour.
Two fishermen were hospitalised, as well as the pregnant wife of a deckhand and their two young children, after coming in to contact with the fish.
The article cited and a few more will be provided to hearings officer, Andrew Stamp, as he ponders laying pipe in Coos Bay.
He said the fish were fine in clear reef water but became stressed as they approached Gladstone Harbour. Once in the port, they “roll” — die and go belly-up.
“We are devastated at the situation here in Gladstone but we know that we have done all the right things to advise all government authorities to keep people safe,” he said.
Queensland Seafood Industry Association president Michael Gardner said the dead turtles, dugongs and fish found in the Gladstone area were “an environmental disaster”.
He said the sick and dead animals coincided with dredging by Gladstone Port Corporation working on the massive LNG plant and pipeline being built in the harbour … But the port corporation says it is not to blame.
The Gladstone Port Corporation has a point. This project has all required approvals from the state and Commonwealth governments.