I went for a long walk on starting at Ellis Beach and headed North. There are two smaller beaches where at times I saw cars or car tracks before but this time the view was terrible.

 

I have attached the photos that don’t really show just how many tracks there were with new sand dunes trashed by tyre marks.

 

There were also the car oil spills and trash. There is a burned car on one of the smaller beaches with what seems a toxic trash left behind that may be reached by very high tides. I also saw a car parked right at the ocean edge where a man was fishing. There was an old sofa chair left behind as trash on one of the beaches and the other one had an old tyre.

 

There has been a lot of erosion at one end of Ellis Beach and I am shocked that cars are still allowed to damage the sand dunes and its protective plant growth on beaches that are ok. There is no need for cars to  have access to the beach, not only because of car oil spills but because they destroy the many little creatures living in the sand.

 

It shocks me that there are still  people around that don’t care about the environment and that for a few people, every surface has to be fenced, protected, security cameras put in place, etc. There should be a much bigger fine for environmental issues and would be a great revenue to add to Environment protective services and the like.

 

I took photos and forwarded them to CAFNEC. My friend has sent email with photos to the Cairns Council.

The post Beach Pollution and Vehicles appeared first on CAFNEC.

The post MangroveWatch Cairns Volunteer Training appeared first on CAFNEC.

Dredging in Cairns is back on the table 

Only 24 hrs left to have your say! Make a submission using the form below. Submissions Close 5 pm Friday 25th August.

It’s no secret that the Great Barrier Reef is one of the great wonders of our natural world, worthy of our very best endeavours to protect it. It is also no secret that our reef is under enormous pressure following two consecutive years of bleaching.

The cumulative impact of new capital dredging projects proposed along the Queensland coast threatens our already vulnerable reef. So much so the Queensland Government have banned it in most places – including Cairns.

But there’s an exception.

Right now, there is a proposal on the table to expand Cairns Port by dredging 1,000,000 m³ from the Trinity Inlet. 

The Queensland government need to hear from the Cairns community who see this project as a lot of risk for little reward. Together, we can protect what makes Cairns a unique destination.

Will you help protect the Trinity Inlet, the Barron River and the Great Barrier Reef from this large, unnecessary and risky project?

Make a submission using form below.

Read the EIS documents here

Find out more about the submission process here

Use the submission guide provided below or:

• Submit online here using Qld Government online form
• Email: to CairnsSDP@nullcoordinatorgeneral.qld.gov.au
• Post: Project manager – Cairns Shipping Development project
  Coordinated Project Delivery Division
  Office of the Coordinator-General
  PO Box 15517
  City East Qld 4002 Australia
• Fax: +61 7 3220 6502

The post Have your say: Cairns Shipping Development Project EIS appeared first on CAFNEC.

The Cairns & Far North Environment Centre are excited to be teaming up with Mangrove Watch, Djunnunji Land & Sea Rangers and others to deliver some exciting mangrove related events on the 29th – 30th October as a part of the 2016 Reefblitz. Put simply, ‘No mangroves, no reef’: a thriving reef needs thriving mangroves. The far north is home to the most diverse range of mangroves in the country, so let’s celebrate this amazing ecosystem!

Come along on Saturday to the board walk and discover how much carbon our local mangroves are sequestering, attend a mangrove themed art show in the evening and on Sunday jump aboard and cruise up Trinity Inlet – attend one event, two or all three! Just don’t forget to register via the links below to ensure your place. 

Mangrove Discovery: Boardwalk tour & survey

When: Saturday 29th October 12 – 4 pm
Where: Jack Barnes Memorial Boardwalk, Airport Ave, Aeroglen QLD 4870
Cost: FREE
What: Come along to the boardwalk and discover our spectacular local mangroves of Cairns with MangroveWatch. This event is perfect for budding scientists, curious visitors and mangrove enthusiasts.  Learn about mangrove forest and help scientists collect real data on the carbon sequestering capacity of our local mangroves. Adult and family friendly groups.
Read more and register here!

Mangrove Science & Art Show: The Beauty Within 

When: Saturday 29th October 7 – 9.30 pm
Where: Stratford Library, 11 Kamerunga Rd, Stratford QLD 4870
Cost: Gold coin donation appreciated
What: A night of mangrove talks and beautiful mangrove art! Hear specialist talks and participate in a discussion about the threats facing mangrove forests in the region and what we can do to help them. Enjoy an evening art exhibition with a variety of mangrove inspired artworks from talented artists of the region including Julie McEnerny, and NSW based Deidre Bean.
Read more and register here!

Mangrove Health Check: Trinity Inlet Boat Cruise 

When: Sunday 30th October 8 – 1.30 pm
Where: Meet at Cairns Reef Fleet Terminal
Cost: $42 – $52.50
What: An educational cruise for curious students, nature loving gardeners and people of the sea edge You will learn the signs to look for, and how citizen scientists are using assessment tools like the shoreline video assessment method to learn more about mangroves. Our hosts for the morning are local country custodians, the Mandingalbay Yidinji (MY) people along with expert scientists with MangroveWatch.
Read more and register here! 

The post Mangrove ReefBlitz Events appeared first on CAFNEC.

The post World Wetlands Day 2016 – Mangroves Matter Community Picnic appeared first on CAFNEC.

DATE: Tuesday 2 Feb 2016

TIME: 5:00pm – 6:30pm

LOCATION: On the grass between the Fig Tree Playground and Mondo’s

CAFNEC are encouraging the people of Cairns to join in a community picnic this World Wetlands Day to celebrate the magnificent wetlands and mangrove communities we have right here on our doorstep.

Bring a plate (and your stories) to help spread the word that the Nationally Important Wetlands of the Port of Cairns and Trinity Inlet are an asset to our region and are an important part of building a sustainable future for Cairns .

Before the event:

Head to the Jack Barnes Memorial Boardwalk, take a happy snap of yourself and share on social media using:

#WorldWetlandsDay

#WetlandsForOurFuture

#MangrovesMatter

#CAFNEC

#FNQ

The post World Wetlands Day – Mangroves Matter appeared first on CAFNEC.

CAFNEC is proud to to be able to assist in giving the small businesses community a voice on this important issue.

The letter has been printed in a full page ad in the Cairns Post on Friday 23rd October. Download the letter and the list of signatories as a pdf here: Business letter with signatories final

Josh Coates, CAFNEC Director said:

“The fact that over one hundred Cairns and Far North businesses have put their names to this open letter sends a clear message to the major parties that industrial ‘priority port’ listing for Cairns is not broadly supported.

We know that protecting the Reef and our reputation as a nature based tourism destination that respects our environment is crucial to our economic future.

Many of the small and medium sized businesses we have talked to are concerned that a small group of vested interests are attempting to push the Government toward amending the bill at the expense of our environment and tourism industry.

With the Ports Bill set to be voted on in parliament very soon most are pleased to see the Government is so far sticking to it’s guns and ruling out industrial port status for Cairns.

The Ports Bill only restricts large scale channel dredging and will not affect our ability to provide for our important reef tourism fleet into the future.

The Sustainable Ports Development Bill as it stands fulfils our promise to the World Heritage Committee to limit new dredging to only a few bulk commodity ports under the Reef 2050 plan. The push from vested interests to list Cairns and Mourilyan as industrial ports is misguided and puts our reputation as Reef stewards at risk. The last thing we want to see is a back down on our commitments leading to ‘at risk’ listing for the reef when UNESCO review our progress in implementing the Reef 2050 plan next year.

Our port can and will continue to function without the need for new channel dredging, alternatives exist for cruise boats and visitation continues to grow without the need for new dredging.”

Open letter text:

We, the undersigned business owners, managers and workers of Queensland, are deeply concerned about the future health of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. And it’s an
economic driver for our region.
We love our marine environment, and we value the Reef, and the $6 billion dollar tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports. Tourism is a sustainable business that supports the local communities, not a select few.
We oppose the changes to list the Port of Cairns and allow more dredging. Making Cairns an industrial mega port would allow unlimited capital dredging.
Cairns risks becoming an industrial port like Gladstone. No one comes from around the world to see dredging.
Australia and Queensland made a commitment to the World Heritage Committee to limit port expansion and dredging alongside the Great Barrier Reef. We must honour that promise and prevent an ‘at risk’ listing for the GBR.
More dredging will hurt tourism. There are real and viable alternatives to dredging for cruise ships. New dredging is not needed for a viable and functioning port.
If we protect it, the Reef will continue to provide for us. We take our responsibility to protect the Reef seriously and we call on all our political leaders to do the same.
That means:
• Not amending the Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015 to include the port of Cairns or Mourilyan as industrial ‘priority ports’, or making any other amendment which would increase the amount of dredging and inappropriate development from what is already allowed under the Bill.
• Renewing the commitment to not spend up to or over $400 million of taxpayers’ money on new dredging in Cairns under the current EIS process and instead committing to supporting Cairns and FNQ businesses in ways
that do not put the environment at risk.
Please, protect the Great Barrier Reef and our coastal environments; it is in all our interests.

The post Local Businesses open letter on Cairns Dredging and the Ports Bill released appeared first on CAFNEC.

Today a cruise ship dredging smokescreen, tomorrow an industrial mega-port?

Use the easy tool at the bottom of this page to send an email to your local MP’s

Developers are pushing for 4.4 million m3 of dirty dredging in Trinity Inlet, to allow the largest giant cruise ships, cargo tankers, and warships into our harbour / into the heart of Cairns.
The dredge spoil would likely be dumped on the environment reserve and restored wetlands at East Trinity and then, in an annual battle against nature to keep the channel open, they’d dredge and dump around an additional 100,000 m3 into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park to maintain the channel. The economics just don’t stack up, the project would cost taxpayers around $440 million, and benefit only a handful of businesses.

Offshore dumping of dredge spoil in the GBR Marine Park 2014 – expanding the Cairns channel would significantly increase the amount of maintenance dredging and dumping required annually. © Josh Coates/CAFNEC/WWF

But it doesn’t stop there!
The same vested interests are now calling for Cairns to be made into a priority industrial port. This would allow unlimited capital dredging for port expansion in the future and risks turning Cairns into an industrial mega-port like Gladstone.

The case for priority port status does not add up, Cairns is not and never should be a large bulk commodity port. Our commitment to UNESCO to prevent new dredging in ports like Cairns was crucial in preventing recent ‘at risk’ listing for the reef. If we break our promise we open the door to at risk listing and would send the wrong message to potential tourism visitors. This would have negative impacts on the economy.

Nobody wants to hold back the economic future of Cairns, but new dredging threatens to do just that and is not necessary for our industries such as tourism, sugar export and defence to continue.

Use the easy tool at the bottom of this page to send an email to your local MP’s

Other things you can do:

1. Click here to sign the Parliamentary petition saying that you want a sustainable future for Cairns, not an industrial mega-port.
2. Share the parliamentary petition with your friends please use this link: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petition?PetNum=2441
3. Own or run a local business? Sign the local business open letter on dredging

The post Stand up for the Reef and stop new Cairns dredging – email your local MP appeared first on CAFNEC.

Open Letter from local businesses regarding Cairns dredging and the Ports Bill.

Healthy reef and marine environment = healthy businesses

Do you own, run or work in a Cairns and Far North local business? Do you care about reef protection and our tourism future?

Please stand up to the misleading and damaging lobby group calling for more dredging and inappropriate industrial ‘priority port’ listing for Cairns port. You can sign up to the open letter on the form below and/or download the letter here: Business open letter FINAL web

Over 100 businesses have already signed the the letter which was printed in a full page ad in the Cairns Post on Friday 23rd October. Download the letter and the list of signatories as a pdf here: Business letter with signatories final

Read more:

• No mega-port for Cairns e-petition – sign now!
• Reef report card confirms need to restrict dredging
• Letter from Federal Environment Minister Hunt backs Queensland Government stance on Cairns Port Dredging.
• Other ways to take action: CAFNEC Ports Bill landing page

Please join other local businesses by signing on to the open letter using the form below.

… Want to discuss this further before signing up? No worries, give us a call on 4032 1586

Sign on to the open letter:

[formidable id=11]

Open Letter Text:

We, the undersigned business owners, managers and workers of Queensland, are deeply concerned about the future health of the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the natural wonders of the world. And it’s an economic driver for our region.
We love our marine environment, and we value the Reef, and the $6 billion dollar tourism industry and 60,000 jobs it supports. Tourism is a sustainable business that supports the local communities, not a select few.
We oppose the changes to list the Port of Cairns and allow more dredging. Making Cairns an industrial mega port would allow unlimited capital dredging. Cairns risks becoming an industrial port like Gladstone. No one comes from around the world to see dredging.
Australia and Queensland made a commitment to the World Heritage Committee to limit port expansion and dredging alongside the Great Barrier Reef. We must honour that promise and prevent an ‘at risk’ listing for the GBR.
More dredging will hurt tourism. There are real and viable alternatives to dredging for cruise ships. New dredging is not needed for a viable and functioning port.
If we protect it, the Reef will continue to provide for us. We take our responsibility to protect the Reef seriously and we call on all our political leaders to do the same.
That means:
• Not amending the Sustainable Ports Development Bill 2015 to include the port of Cairns or Mourilyan as industrial ‘priority ports’, or making any other amendment which would increase the amount of dredging and inappropriate development from what is already allowed under the Bill.
• Renewing the commitment to not spend up to or over $400 million of taxpayers money on new dredging in Cairns under the current EIS process and instead committing to supporting Cairns and FNQ businesses in ways that do not put the environment at risk.

Please, protect the Great Barrier Reef and our coastal environments; it is in all our interests.

The post Business open letter on dredging appeared first on CAFNEC.

Reef report card confirms need to restrict dredging.

MEDIA RELEASE 21/09/2015

Cairns and Far North Environment Centre (CAFNEC) is today pointing out that the recently released reef report card 2014 is not good news for the reef. With reducing land based sediment loads one of the priorities, CAFNEC is questioning how new dredging in Cairns could be even considered as an option.

CAFNEC Marine Programs Coordinator Josh Coates said:

“To protect our reef scientists agree that improving water quality is highly important. The reef report card 2015 shows we are currently falling short of what is needed in terms of improvement.

“This report card shows that progress toward goals including reducing sediment loads is slowing. Many of our farmers and other land managers are doing their bit and there is increased funding but new dredging would make a mockery of this progress.

“The report is largely silent on dredging, but makes clear that sediment runoff is a problem for the reef. To say that the sediment stirred up during dredging is somehow different and does not impact the reef would be illogical.

“New capital dredging would suspend large sediment loads regardless of where spoil is dumped and channel expansion would lead to increased annual maintenance dredging. Maintenance dredge spoil is currently dumped in the Marine Park.

“To achieve the water quality improvement targets we need not only funding to reduce land based impacts, but also to ensure that suspension of pollutants from dredging and dumping do not undermine the progress made in the past, and the future. Projects like the Cairns Port dredging proposal cannot be allowed to undermine good work being done by farmers and land managers.

”We must maintain our commitment to reef protection and UNESCO and stop new dredging in Cairns by passing the Ports Bill unamended if we are to avoid future ‘at risk’ listing.”

Media contact: Josh Coates, Director, (07) 4032 1586,  director [at] cafnec.org.au

The post Reef report card confirms need to restrict dredging appeared first on CAFNEC.