An ambitious plan to source 70 million cubic metres of sand from the seabed off the Wyndham coast for sale into Asia has been put before the state’s Environmental Protection Authority.
An ambitious plan to source 70 million cubic metres of sand from the seabed off the Wyndham coast for sale into Asia has been put before the state’s Environmental Protection Authority.
Dredging company Boskalis Australia hopes to use a crew of 25 aboard a 375m-long offshore vessel to stockpile sand sucked up from the Cambridge Gulf seabed.
The vessel, which would have capacity for between 75,000 and 125,000 cubic metres of sand, would then sail to a delivery point in Asia for use in construction, and return to repeat the cycle.
Boskalis estimates the vessel would operate in the gulf for 14 per cent of the year, or 52 days, with no operational activity for the remaining 86 per cent of the time.
It hopes to run the project for 15 years, shipping 70 million cubic metres of an estimated 300 million cubic metres in the operating area over that time.
Boskalis estimates the removal of the sand would result in the operational area’s seabed being less than one metre deeper than its current level.
The company said it planned for the project to generate state royalties, royalties for Traditional Owner groups, between 40 and 50 local jobs, and had letters of support from the Balanggarra and Miriuwung-Gajerrong Traditional Owner groups.
The company pictured its Cambridge Gulf ambitions as a lower-impact alternative to on-surface sand removal.
“Currently most construction sand in Australia comes from land-based sources, which can cause relatively high environmental impacts including clearing of terrestrial vegetation and habitats, impacts on terrestrial fauna, potential impacts on freshwater courses and groundwater, high aesthetic impacts, high rehabilitation costs with mixed success rates, and high transport cost and carbon footprint including reliance on trucking and a need for multi-handling,” it wrote in its referral to the EPA.
Boskalis said it selected the site because of its proximity to Wyndham and the significance of its sand resources, as well as distance from recreational fishing activities and a lack of tourism activity.
Its own commissioned assessments found a low likelihood of environmental impact.
The Cambridge Gulf is a hot spot for mud crabs and gillnet fishery. Boskalis’ assessment made note of two commercial mud crab fishery licences that cover the project area but said there were no active commercial fisheries in the area.
“The crabs are taken recreationally by locals in accordance with WA recreational fishing regulations,” it wrote.
However, the state is carrying out surveying activities in the area with a view to developing a Kimberley Aboriginal Mud Crab Fishery.
In June, Fisheries Minister Don Punch said the state had ambitions to re-survey parts of the gulf to gain greater insights into its mud crab population.
In its environmental submission documents, Boskalis said adult female mud crabs migrated to clearer offshore waters each spring and early summer to lay eggs.
“It is therefore possible that the outward migrating adult females and the returning juveniles could potentially pass through the proposed operation area during these movements,” the company said.
But Boskalis said the company’s proposed operation within the central part of the gulf, where currents are strong and the seabed moves constantly, suggested crabs would not migrate through the zone.
The Cambridge Gulf has been the subject of a number of business ventures over the years, most prolifically an offshore diamond exploration company – Cambridge Gulf Exploration NL – which controversially operated in the region during the mid-1990s.
Its EPA application is open for a seven-day public comment period.
Darren Walsh was today announced the new chair of the EPA, following the resignation of Matthew Tonts earlier this year.
