BY SOPHIA ZIELINSKA
PERTH — Why do we have to destroy a marine paradise just to build a giant man-made paddle pool for the elite? This is the question many ask about a proposal to build a tourist resort a short swim away from Ningaloo Reef.
Situated on the north-west coast of Western Australia, and surrounded by the Cape Range region, Ningaloo is a truly wondrous and enigmatic area of wilderness.
According to the Australian Marine Conservation Society, the region has a unique overlap of temperate and tropical zones in both its marine and terrestrial environments. This provides a home for species which are found nowhere else in the world. It is home to 500 species of fish, 200 species of coral, 600 species of molluscs and indeterminable numbers of marine invertebrates.
The adjacent "karst" system of limestone caves and aquifers, provides a habitat for the world's most diverse, prolific and important species of subterranean animals, dating more than 100 million years. Ten genera and at least one class of the 54 species so far documented occur no-where else in the world.
Each Autumn, Ningaloo becomes home to whale sharks, the world's largest fish, of which very little is known. Whale sharks are hunted in many parts of the world and face an uncertain future. Ningaloo is a valuable site for researching the sharks, assisting their protection and documentation. The sharks are a key tourist attraction.
Ningaloo is also home to sizeable dugong and mantaray populations, plus humpback, minky, fin, and killer whales, bottle nose dolphins and Australian sea lions.
The proposed resort, planned for Maud's Landing just north of Coral Bay and the Ningaloo Marine Park, would cover 312 hectares. In its first phase, it would accommodate 2500 vacationers, with an additional 371 residential lots. The marina could hold more than 240 boats, and another 480 recreational boats are expected each day.
The beach across from where the marina will be built is the main breeding site for endangered loggerhead turtles. The heavy boat traffic will interfere with the turtles migratory routes, as well as causing pollution, increasing the number of marine pests. The boat's anchors are also likely to cause damage to the marine environment. The fishing area will also increase by forty kilometres or more.
Even Alan Smith, a member of the Coral Coast Resort Group which has submitted the proposal, has admitted that the development will worsen water quality over a nine kilometre area for up to five years. Other problems with the development include dune erosion, the impact of long term dredging usually required by inland marinas and the run-off into the sea of pollutants dumped by the resort.
This type of marina has already been banned in Florida and New South Wales. A larger version of the same development put to the WA state government in 1997 was rejected on environmental grounds.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society, the West Australian Conservation Council, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Wilderness Society, and the World Wide Fund for Nature have combined forces in the "Save Ningaloo Campaign".
The campaign to stop the development is hard to miss in Perth — blue bumper stickers emblazoned with < http://www.save-A href="mailto:ningaloo.org"><ningaloo.org> flash by, an oversized turtle hands out pamphlets in the city centre and the campaign is featured prominently on Western Australian radio, television and print media.
The campaign's biggest mobilisation of support so far was on April 9, when 1500 people attempted to cram into Fremantle Town Hall for a public meeting. After two hours of scientific arguments against the development, renowned author Tim Winton spoke against it.
With so much to lose it makes sense to agree with Tim Winton that — "You don't have to be wearing a vest woven from fibres, hand-gathered from free ranging beasts and dyed in your own urine to find that kind of concept [the marina development] in that kind of wilderness a bit much".
The Environmental Protection Authority will make a recommendation on the proposal to the state government in June. To help make sure the reef does not become another patch of collateral damage in the name of short-term gains for big business, write to WA Premier Geoff Gallop, log on to the web-site and get involved!
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, April 24, 2002.
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