The Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) has welcomed the UNESCO report warning about the environmental concerns related to port development in Gladstone Harbour, reports farmonline.com.
QSIA president Geoff Tilton said: “ Right now, fishermen are still catching fish and crabs with unexplained disease that makes them unsaleable. Fishermen are still seeing other marine life being affected as well, including turtles, birds and dugong.”
He said that fishermen believe the habitat destruction, silting and turbidity caused by reclamation, dredging and spoil-dumping have caused the damage to marine life.
The UNESCO inspection team that visited Gladstone has signalled the need for better environmental performance in Gladstone right now, and better environmental safeguards as port capacity is expanded elsewhere along the Queensland coast.
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Dredging Today Staff, June 11, 2012; Image: westernbasinportdevelopment