Surf carnival needs environmental management

Gosford Council recently approved the holding of the NSW Surf Lifesaving 2005 Carnival on Peninsula beaches, between Umina and Ocean Beaches, in February and March.

This includes the championships of all three categories: masters, seniors and juniors.

This carnival, described as the biggest sporting event on the Central Coast, will be conducted in the fragile environment of the Peninsula dune system.

Surf lifesaving is a unique part of the Australian tradition, with its volunteer ethos, healthy principles and focus on making our beaches safe.

However, in supporting this carnival, Gosford Council should not overlook issues of environmental management.

A recent report from Council Bushcare staff stated: "Dune vegetation not only provides habitat for native animals but protects against high seas in storm events, prevents sand blowing into properties and provides a windbreak to foreshore properties."

This surf lifesaving event will have huge community and environmental impacts with crowds of between 24,000 and 30,000 expected, and 8000 competitors.

Some of the negative impacts include traffic, parking, garbage, water use and environmental damage.

Environmental damage is to include the widening of tracks through the dunes for equipment access, moving sand, and destroying and lopping dune vegetation.

An event of this size in this location also runs the risk of damaging the already-degraded adjoining Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland, an endangered ecological community.

Council's approval for this event includes several comments that are to be addressed before the event proceeds.

However these comments raise issues of the extent and timing of consultation with residents and dunecare volunteers.

What expertise was used by the surf lifesavers in assessing the environmental impact of their plans, and what expertise will they use in rehabilitating the dune vegetation that will be destroyed by this event?

There should also be a requirement for a report to council after the carnival, stating the adequacy of the conditions of consent.

The Glenworth Valley music festivals had numerous conditions added to their conditions of consent, covering safety, environment, heritage and noise.

Further, maintaining the integrity of fragile plant communities like the dunes requires not just conditions but ecological expertise.

For instance, replacement plants should be grown from local seed.

Without this expertise, effective revegetation and rehabilitation of the dunes is unlikely.

This carnival highlights the fact that the surf beach is only a small part of a complex system that includes dunes and vegetation.

This dune system protects the rest of the Peninsula and is crucial to our way of life.

Norm Harris, Umina