Save Tuggerah Lakes | Community organisation

Save Tuggerah Lakes

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25.01.2022 BOATSHED OWNER'S SPEECH TO COUNCIL TONIGHT: The Entrance Boatshed's Toni Moon was due to have her speech read out in the public forum at Central Coast Council t...onight. The speech is critical of Council's plunge into debt and disarray. She has now been told the speech can't be read out so in the public interest, I am posting it for her as an example of what leading businesspeople think of the situation: Dear Councillors, My Name is Toni Moon from The Entrance Boatshed, and I have addressed council on a number of occasions, As a business owner, it is just so disappointing to see yet again another report on the Entrance channel, this time with key findings that show a southern training wall at the Entrance Channel does in fact have merit. Exactly what you were asked to consider by Cr Bruce McLachlan, but you voted it down and ridiculed it. Maybe if councillors had listened to the locals, like Cr McLachlan, instead of ordering endless report after report and just tried something, we might have gotten somewhere. Cr Mc Lachlan’s proposal costing was $300k, not the $40m in the Cardno report, not the millions you councillors wasted on the Airport lease payouts or the $4.6m you handed back for Winnie Bay. However, now you are broke and facing the sack, so we the locals will not see anything. If only there had been some action, instead of reports. I have attended and watched Council meetings, and seen the same councillors use their political numbers to vote things down, over and over, hold things back, time and time again. And now when you are facing the sack, you want to blame amalgamation for not working, it’s the same councillors that have been the problem, not the amalgamation. In Feb 2018 you voted down Crs Best, McLachlan and Pilon, when they asked this council to consider replacing the ageing Council dredge. I addressed Council in December 2019 and pleaded with you to take action, but again the same eight councillors voted it down. You voted down Cr Best’s plan to revitalise the lakes, voted down the flood risk rising and you said the breakwall argument was over, dead and had no substance. However, here we have a report tonight saying Geo Textile idea for the southern wall does have merit, As Cr McLachlan suggested. Instead of listening to the locals, you put out silly press releases saying the channel was flowing, when obviously it wasn’t, and that the pelicans where happy. Well let me tell you, the residents were NOT happy. Now Council is in financial trouble, but instead of looking at the finances and acting like professionals you have continued on the name calling path, neo Liberals and tin pot despots Banana republics are just some that I’ve heard. I don't think you deserve to keep your jobs, you certainly didn’t deserve a pay rise and the public definitely didn’t deserve a rate rise. Last time the public called for the Mayor to resign, this time we are asking for you ALL to resign to save further embarrassment. You don’t have a clue on have to run a $850m Council and we the residents are suffering. On behalf of the residents of the Central Coast I call on the NSW Minster for Local Government to remove this council and appoint and Administrator. Unfortunately all councillors must go and I do wish to thank those councillors who have tried to do the right thing by their community, but have been voted down time after time. Thank you

25.01.2022 Would you vote Madam Mayor back in if she did this to Budgewoi Lake?

23.01.2022 First known opening by white men, was by Mr E. H.Hargraves JP, when the lakes were above normal on 10/1883 he was paid 20 for the successful work, this was aft...er Hargraves made the first road across the sand esplanade in between the ocean and the lake at Budgewoi closing off what Elizabeth Hargraves reported was still a small opening in her diary when she arrived as a child bride in 1856. Hargraves had good reason to want his road protected and the entrance opened as he charged a toll on his road which was the main and only road to Cabbage tree harbour and the shipping port to Sydney he charged local fisherman 1 shilling per box of fish, the fisherman would cart there fish to Terrigal rather than pay this toll. Hargraves also suggested dynamiting the rock ledge at the Entrance. Floods in 1889 reported by Mrs Elizabeth Hargreaves diary that waters between Noraville and Budgewoi were 7-8 feet high with waters running out to sea across, what is now 500 Mtrs south of the Surf Club where old Sea & Surf motel was this was also only three years after the railway line was completed. Second opening was done by Mr P Flanagan in 1896 for 10 Another flood in1905 the lakes raised 4feet after 3 days of heavy rain the same year another flood after 8 inches of rain in a single December night, Ourimbah creek rose 20 feet above normal. 1915 again, floods due to The Entrance being closed for 8 months, Shire council opened The Entrance. 1916, Again residents tried to open in August but failed, tried again in October with success. Many many examples, from every few years to every 10 years have had, residents and shire opening the entrance, up until the 1980s when the current program was introduced. Dredging has a long history going back to the first man driven, by 5 men using scoops ropes and pulleys, made by the shire in 1919. Then 1921 state government transported a dredge to The Entrance. Fishing boat operations would have been using scratchers on run-out tides, very common tool to keep routes clear, see 1914 fisheries map of routes When considering The Entrance history, we need to look at all the history, for a scientific study. Repeatedly saying studies show no improvements with better Entrance flushing, "council recent report" is an incorrect hypothesis, this is based on flushing cycle that runs over Karagi point, which is at mean tidal height, it also that fails to account for wind-driven actions when open. A large cause of early pollution was sewer flowing into the system, yet ignores the huge amount of sewer entering the system every flood event we have, or blackout over 3-4 hours. This must be fixed. Most of the studies copied the past inaccuracies, such as the 1994 Patterson and Britton consulting engineers report, they claimed under the berm was a 4 Metre clearance, this misleads many future reports, The unwell report included claimed, an open Entrance could lead to ocean swells causing damage, this has no historical evidence of support, even the old wooden bridge never got damaged. The Entrance has been fully open for short periods of time, many times without any damage from large seas, mainly due to the rock ledge protecting the Bay area of the Entrance. Sadly it closes up quickly, 3 months. Fishermen have been dragging nets across this area for 170 years, they have also introduced cast iron Sleds under their nets, to stop filling with mud when trying to catch greasy back prawns. The Entrance only opened fully during last flood February 2020, when the excavator opened it, shortly after opening, whilst still at high flood levels, Tuggerah lakes rescue, took their boat across the break, with their depth finder measuring 2 to 2.5 Mtrs depth to Rockledge under. See more

23.01.2022 After over-wintering in the estuaries and lakes the juvenile prawns grow rapidly and upon some cue, start to migrate back to the ocean. These migrations rise to a peak in the ‘dark’ period of the summer, lunar cycles, and are fished enthusiastically by both... amateur and professional fishermen. The physiology of prawns with a ‘mixed’ life cycle is such that the prawns require the conditions found in the deeper ocean waters to reach maturity. Once they reach oceanic waters, the prawns rapidly mature, mate, and spawn thus completing the life See more

19.01.2022 This is how it should not be done!

18.01.2022 Click on the link

17.01.2022 Bring Back the Gap!

17.01.2022 National parks you have some serious explaining to do! So national done aerial spraying for bitou bush and this is what the poison had done to the beach worms,... imagine all of the organisms in the sand and water that would have also died but at too small too see. They are the ones who are supposed to protect nature but here they are killing everything! I've collected samples that ill be sending away as evidence and proof. No wonder why national parks lock people out, so we can't see what they really do. PLEASE SHARE THIS EVERYONE NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW DPI Fisheries

16.01.2022 How can this be marked on so many different maps and the council know nothing about this and hardly do anybody in the community?

15.01.2022 1952 100 years after Elizabeth Hargraves wrote in her diary saying there was still a small opening when she arrived and 76 after the first road was built across... the sand esplanade in between Budgewoi and Lakes Beach. The ocean was still going over the low lying sand dunes and covering the road with sand. The Council tried to get The Department of Main Roads to take responsibility but they said it was Councils problem. The council could not afford to fix it so they filled the area with logs and whatever else they could find to protect the road and stop the ocean encroaching the lake! See more

15.01.2022 And good to see no weed has been dragged out of the lake!

12.01.2022 How high has the berm grown, it was .240 before this swell and tidal surge, this is where the flooding begins and where mitigation needs to begin

12.01.2022 They wouldn't let that happen again!

11.01.2022 David Eaton After endless searching I think I found 'The Gap' in this 1954 aerial image. Unfortunatley it doesn't show any further north than this but I will keep searching.

09.01.2022 The lake is going to drain and become very shallow and expose the weed banks in the lake there is nothing the Council can do to stop this, (unless they accident...ally block it up more and it fills with rain) this is all part of the natural cleaning process. The council will probably make it worse as they don't understand what the lake is doing or what they are doing. The sand berm at the Entrance controls the water level of the lakes. The sand berm and rock shelf will hold the water in the lakes over the draining periods if it wasn't there the lake would drain even more over these periods. As the lakes naturally drain and refill with the tides over the monthly tide cycle the lake gets cleaner every month, its a bit like cleaning your house or mowing monthly after not doing it for years, it will get cleaner every clean but looks dirtier while it is being cleaned, when it is shallow is the best time to get out and help mother nature clean the beaches by pushing the weed back into deeper water, this stops the weed rotting and stinking on the beach and turning the sand to ooze it also gives the microscopic animals another chance of life and allows the eggs attached to the weed time to hatch or even just become fish food and will give you a clean white sandy beach when the tide drops. The lake fills on the new moon, drains on first-quarter, fills on the full moon, drains on second-quarter more than the first-quarter than fills on the new moon again more than on the full moon this is the lakes monthly tidal cycle The next new moon is on the 17th of October when the Lake will start filling on the 15th of October The lakes will fill for a week with fresh cleansing ocean water just like this month, this will only be the ninth cleansing tidal cycle the lakes have had since the channel was opened in February. Arthur Clouten always said it would take 12 months of this tidal exchange to clean the lake. The lake will do the same draining and filling and cleaning cycle again next month just as it does every month unless the channel is blocked too much like last year and the tides and natural cleaning of the lakes will be minimal or almost none existent! This natural tidal filling and draining process is also changing where the weed grows as the weed banks are exposed on the nearshore the sunburns and kills them and when the water returns with help from the wind it washes away the dead dried weed leaving less each month and the weed is naturally relocating itself to the original far shores which if healthy will help stop the weed getting to the nearshore as it acts as a barrier this is more like it was meant to work naturally. If the old Budgewoi tidal spillover was returned and a bridge built across the lake in large tides and swells the water could spill over the low dunes into the lake cleansing Budgewoi lake also during large Southerly storms and heavy rain the lake would drain which would stop any potential flooding problems in the top lakes. See more

08.01.2022 Scientists estimate that the 15 million or more feral cats in Australia kill a minimum of 75 million native animals a night (such as this Major Mitchell's cocka...too). This makes them one of the biggest threats to our biodiversity. Free-roaming pet cats are a problem too. Read more about it and learn what you can do to minimise the impact of your cat here: http://bit.ly/Z5PW7L See more

07.01.2022 The water started coming back today and the lake will be full by the end of the week!

06.01.2022 watch this small 1.7m tide push in, high tide in Budgewoi lake is at approximately 4.28pm this afternoon with a slight onshore wind no rain for some time

06.01.2022 The tide has started re-entering the lake. On the 12th at 4.30pm Budgewoi lake was 0.042 on the 13th at 5pm it was 0.057 and at 5.30pm today it was 0.067, with ...both tides both getting bigger as we approach the new moon and by the 20th the lakes would have been full again, let's pray whatever they are doing at the Entrance doesn't stop the tide entering as it has in the past or even worse drain the lakes so that at low tide they are mudflats! See more

05.01.2022 Council say the lake is not tidal and controlled by rain, You only have to half understand this graph to see that is far from the truth

04.01.2022 The lake level drops on King tides if the water can escape the berm

03.01.2022 Let's hope the Council contractors don't stop this happening with their dredge!

03.01.2022 The far weed habitat is so important

02.01.2022 Fx the far weed habitat and you will fix the near-shore weed problem.

01.01.2022 Who would build a car park on a beach?

01.01.2022 The tide is .05 at low today much lower than the lake, It,s not the tide holding the water it's the berm that has built up and the water can't escape, this is t...he 2nd stage of the lead-up to the next flood just like last year. As this happens another indicator of The Entrance channel becoming restricted the fortnightly tides already can only be noticed on the peaks and soon will stop and the daily tide heights in the lakes are decreasing until they become 10mm and then only on the peaks and eventually not at all, If the council acted now they would only need to take off 200mm and it would be back to how it was after the flood this would cost next to nothing and should be done every three months, this would be responsible flood mitigation that would not only make Tuggerah lakes resistant to flooding but is also inexpensive and would help keep the lake naturally flushed and clean, saving more money and makes a happier and healthier community See more