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WALLIS LAKE

Securing the future

Wallis Lake catchment plan and estuary management

Gerard Tuckerman
Environmental Officer with Great Lakes Shire Council

The importance of Wallis Lake is not only measured through its importance to the economy of Forster/Tuncurry (tourism $140 million per year, oyster industry $9 M and estuarine fishery $2 M) but at a State and national level.

 For instance, Wallis Lake is the largest oyster production area in NSW. It has a significant proportion of the State's seagrass beds, which support an estuarine fishery second only to the Clarence Estuary.


Wallis Lake - oyster beds, 
bushland and birdlie
Photo by Brian Darwood

In addition, the lake has 4% of the State's saltmarsh community. Perhaps less known is the lake’s listing as a Wetland of National significance. Wallis Lake is utilised by over 30 JAMBA and CAMBA listed migratory bird species and threatened species. It is one of Australia’s largest coastal lakes, with an area of 90 square kilometres and a catchment of about 1,500 square kilometres.

The Wallis Lake Catchment and Estuary Management Plan is currently being finalised and will serve as the blueprint for guaranteeing the future quality of the lake. The main goal of the plan is to maintain and where possible enhance the quality of Wallis Lake and its catchment by the development of agreed catchment management practices and actions. To achieve this, the plan is based on a strong partnership with the catchment community, industry and government. This partnership has been important in defining issues of concern, and primary actions and strategies to address current problems. The ownership of the plan by the community is critical to achieving success.

Also critical is an appropriate level of funding by local, State and Commonwealth governments to assist in implementation. Applications for funding have been made to address a range of key issues such as water quality decline; streambank and land erosion; management of wetland, remnant bushland and riparian areas through targeted fencing incentives; and voluntary conservation agreements.

The plan has prioritised the following natural resource issues in the Wallis Lake catchment:

• foster and develop community partnership in natural resource and catchment management;

• ensure adequate resourcing and planning for catchment actions;

• improve water quality in the lake and its tributaries through a coordinated catchment water quality monitoring program;

• minimise degrading processes, including noxious species and vegetation clearing;

• erosion, including riverbank and soil erosion;

• improved management of wetland, riparian and foreshore areas;

• protection of biodiversity and vegetation management;

• implementation of wetland and habitat protection;

• protection of threatened species and their habitats;

• protection of aquatic flora and fauna, including seagrass and nursery areas; and

• improve acid-sulphate soil management practices.

The plan also highlights the need for community awareness and action. Environmental problems are people problems and it is only through education, awareness and involvement of people in natural resource management that sustained improvement will be made. This awareness may translate into support for the implementation of appropriate planning and regulatory processes, such as enforcement of sediment and erosion control policies, or land zonings that take into account water-quality sensitive areas of the lake and catchment.

We know there is potential for change: after a contamination crisis in Wallis Lake oysters in 1997, the problem of sewage point-source pollution was vigorously addressed and has now become one of the lesser catchment management issues. To further improve the management of Wallis Lake, it is essential to deal with the 70% of the Wallis Lake catchment that is in private ownership. This was the initial impetus for a comprehensive community-based catchment plan.

Gerard Tuckerman 
is the Environmental Officer with Great Lakes Shire Council.



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