No motorcraft or anchoring on tidal flats

The Deeban Spit area is undergoing a review as to how it should be used in the future.

For too long we have had problems with motor craft speeding along the Cabbage Tree Creek down to the Basin, a relatively shallow piece of water that is a favourite of families with really small children.

The shorebirds are in competition with the nipper pumpers on weekends on the tidal flats. Right now they need to increase their body weight by up to 70% for their long migration to the arctic for breeding. They are constantly being moved along, stopping their feeding, mostly by people pumping for nippers. These nippers are a critical food source for the curlews.

Here is a link to a very interesting article about the state of the tidal flats due to overfishing and nipper pumping. We are being given the opportunity to stop motoring, anchoring and nipper pumping but there is a concerted scare campaign, plus a staggering amount of misinformation, which the Sutherland mayor is hitting like buttons on. This article is sobering and I hope the community makes the right choice.

https://www.beagleweekly.com.au/single-post/2018/04/22/Is-Tuross-Estuary-in-serious-decline

Here is a video shot on the 13th February showing the 20 metre buffer edge the mayor wants on the tidal flats for boats to continue to moor on. It clearly shows the curlews and pied oystercatchers using this section as their roosting site as the beach is mostly never free of a few people.