River Management Plan for Shoalhaven River.

The Need for a Comprehensive Strategic River Management Plan
for the Lower Shoalhaven River

Introduction

Rivers are the lifeblood of our country and everyone wants to enjoy our rivers for active and passive recreation as well as commercial enterprises.

The linking of healthy rivers and river use is important so that people understand and value our rivers and take action to improve local rivers and the estuarine environment while still enjoying the recreational and commercial benefits of rivers.

Many of us have seen the impacts on our rivers through drought, over–use and pollution which threaten the health of our rivers. Unless addressed early, these impacts can eventually lead to siltation, chronic pollution and destruction of fish stock. While Australia does take river health seriously, the worst effects of overpopulation can be seen at Ranking of the world’s most polluted rivers | Sustainability for all (activesustainability.com) . The Citarum River in Indonesia was one of the worst rivers (Is this the world's most polluted river? | Daily Mail Online ). Fortunately in November 2011, the Citarum river revitalization began, with an expected cost of Rp35 trillion ($4 billion) over a time frame of 15 years. The revitalization is occurring from Mount Wayang through 8 regencies and 3 cities for a distance of 180 kilometres. The target for the first 3 years is to pick up 10.5 million cubic meters of sedimentation. ( Citarum River - Wikipedia ) However the cost of this revitalization could have been avoided if early management action had taken place.
On the flip side, the River Thames is now one of the cleanest rivers in the world. The world’s cleanest rivers (activesustainability.com)

Shoalhaven River.

“The Shoalhaven River catchment is one of the outstanding natural features of the NSW south coast. With an area of approximately 7,250 square kilometres, it is the sixth largest coastal catchment in NSW.

The Shoalhaven River has its source on the eastern side of the Great Dividing Range near Braidwood, about 350 kilometres south-west of Sydney. It flows for approximately 300 kilometres in a north-easterly direction toward a remote canyon east of Goulburn, emerging in the coastal lowlands of the Shoalhaven region and entering the Pacific Ocean east of the major urban area of Nowra. The Shoalhaven River has two mouths – one permanently open at Crookhaven Heads and the other intermittently open, five kilometres north at Shoalhaven Heads.

Approximately 35% of the catchment is used for agriculture and 11% for forestry. The Shoalhaven River floodplain, which covers approximately 5% of the catchment, is one of the richest dairy areas in NSW. Other significant primary industries include commercial fishing and oyster growing. The Shoalhaven region tourist industry includes water activities such as recreational fishing, boating, water skiing and wakeboarding.

Nowra, the largest urban centre along the River, has a population of approximately 31,000 (2006 Census). During the peak tourist season the population in the Shoalhaven region can increase four-fold. The Nowra/Bomaderry area is identified as a growth area with the population expected to increase by 50% in the next 25 years.” (Courtesy of Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority)

Shoalhaven Riverwatch Incorporated

The goal of Riverwatch is to:
To achieve improvements in, and the maintenance of, the health of the Shoalhaven River, its estuaries and environment.

To achieve this, Riverwatch objectives are:
To ensure long term planning by authorities to improve and maintain the health of the River.
To achieve an environmental balance between the various users of the River

Our strategies to achieve these objectives are:
Representation from the Shoalhaven community, who have commercial, recreational and environmental interests of the River.
Participate in the decision making process with authorities and industries which directly, or indirectly, impact on the River and the river environment.
Monitor the impact of industries, development and recreational activities on the River and river environment.
Participate in, and seek funding for, river restoration and maintenance activities to improve the health of the River.
Organise social events and release press statements to improve the community awareness of river issues.

Since 1999, Riverwatch has lobbied both Shoalhaven City Council and the NSW State Government to have an effective and comprehensive management plan for the river.
Unfortunately some in the Shoalhaven community have unfairly labelled Shoalhaven Riverwatch as a group which wants to restrict boating activity for the sake of stopping recreational fun. This view is incorrect and very short sighted. This view also downplays the excellent projects undertaken by Riverwatch working with farmers, river frontage landowners, Council and the State Government to improve our River.
Our prime focus is to manage the River so all river users can continue to enjoy the river responsibly. Obviously, the River has suffered from increased bank erosion over the years due to farming, destruction of riverside vegetation and boating. The causes of this erosion have been identified and limited funding has become available over the years to undertake riverbank restoration. However we do recognized that there will be boating restrictions in areas where bank erosion is severe. Ideally, if sufficient funds were available, all the banks could be restored (like in Europe), to allow for any boating activity to occur. However Governments do not have these funds available.

River Management Progress

Considerable progress has been made since 1999, as list below, including an excellent relationship with the Australian Government, NSW Government, Local Council. This relationship also includes farmers and landowners on which Riverwatch has undertaken bank restoration work; oyster farmers in supporting their effort to cleanup the river and ensure sufficient environmental flows; Universities of Wollongong, University of NSW and NSW Maritime in undertaking research into reducing production of acid runoff from acid sulphate soils and riverbank erosion assessments.

Some History
Progress over the years has been made as follows:

1999: The Healthy Rivers Commission report recommended that a Shoalhaven River Boating Management Plan be developed due to the impact of boating. In response to this, NSW Maritime developed a Boating Safety Plan for 2009-2013 that addressed the safety issues of boating. (See more information below)

2002: Riverwatch obtain a Federal Government grant to undertake an assessment of bank erosion from Greenwell Point to Burrier. This assessment was undertaken by an independent consultant, Patterson & Britton, which was selected by Council under the umbrella of the old Shoalhaven River Task Force. This assessment and final recommendations were independently reviewed and supported by both Council staff and State Government staff (who were very supportive of the assessment being undertaken).

2007: The State Government and Council jointly funded a consultant to review previous reports on the river and to develop a River Management Plan. The independent consultant, Umwelt, supported the previous Patterson & Britton report, and the Umwelt report went further to recommend boating restrictions. This report was commissioned under the Shoalhaven River Natural Resource & Floodplain Management Committee. A decision was made by the Committee to have NSW Maritime recommend boating restrictions from environmental impacts of boating in their proposed Boating Management Plan and remove any boating restrictions recommendations from the Umwelt report.

The outcome of the Umwelt report was the release of the Shoalhaven River Estuary Management Plan. While the Plan is a good document, limited resources has been given to implement actions in the Plan.

2009: NSW Maritime released their Boating Safety Plan rather than a Boating Management Plan. This is a well-drafted plan but the purpose of the Plan is on boat safety, including safety from bank erosion. However the Plan does contain an obligation on NSW Maritime to assess bank erosion potential from boating activity by 2011.

2011: An update to the bank erosion survey was conducted by Riverwatch with support from Shoalhaven Landcare. This survey was mainly a photographic survey using GIS positioning. These photos are available from Riverwatch.

2012: NSW Maritime working with the NSW University has assessed the impact of boat wake on the Shoalhaven riverbanks between the Nowra Bridge and Calymea Creek. This work was made possible through funding obtained by Riverwatch.

2013: Shoalhaven Council considers a Strategic River Management Plan (see 29Apr13 Item 10 of the Business Paper of the Northern Shoalhaven Natural Resource & Floodplain Management Committee. )

Ongoing: Riverwatch continues to work with the NSW Government to develop a strategic management plan.

Lower Shoalhaven River Strategic Management Plan

Riverwatch believes that a comprehensive Strategic River Management Plan for the lower section of the ShoalhavenRiver, from Crookhaven Heads to the upper tidal reaches of the River near Burrier is essential.
Such a Plan would use input from the Shoalhaven River Estuary Management Plan, NSW Maritime’s Boat Safety Plan, the previous NSW Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority’s Catchment Action Plan and studies that have been undertaken by the University of NSW.

The Plan would address all aspects of river management including the following:

Assess the current commercial and recreational activities on the Lower Shoalhaven River, between Burrier and Crookhaven Heads, and associated environmental, social and amenity impacts on the estuary and adjoining river landowners.
Review the appropriate zoning of river foreshores to ensure the necessary environmental
protections are in place while allowing appropriate and sustainable commercial and recreational development.
Identify the causes of riverbank erosion and river siltation, and assess the impacts on river health as well as impacts on commercial and recreational activities.
Based on the reviews and assessments, produce strategies to protect and improve the health of the River by:

Rezoning river foreshores to provide proper environmental management to limit further bank erosion and reduce river siltation while allowing suitable and sustainable commercial and recreational activities.
Allocating activity zones for both active and passive water sports based on lessening impacts of these sports on riverbank erosion and promoting a fair sharing of the river for all water users to enjoy.
Working with tourism businesses to promote the benefits of segregating active and passive recreational water activities and combine these activities with associated accommodation and foreshore facilities.
Allocating priorities of bank restoration work including bank restoration projects in areas of high water use.
Identifying industrial improvements to reduce, if not eliminate, industry pollution of the river.
Propose solutions to reduce rubbish entering the waterways from urban storm water drains