Boat moorings in the spotlight

Boats and the environment are on a collision course again. Those advocating greater marine protection and a Marine Park in the Sydney region are now pointing the finger at boat moorings and their deleterious effects on seagrass— or what’s left of it — in Sydney Harbour.

As it stands or floats, the harbour has more than 4850 private boating moorings, amounting to 50 per cent of vessel storage on the favourite Sydney waterways, plus almost 1000 commercial moorings attached to clubs and repair facilities.

Some bays are cluttered and demand for moorings continues, with waitlists up to 1000 boaters, according to the 2013 Sydney Harbour Boat Storage Strategy by Transport NSW.

How best to address the boat-storage issue in an environmentally-mindful way on Sydney Harbour, where the Boating Industry Association has previous said more than a 1 million users frequent the waterway each year?

Are future benefits of removing moorings from seagrass areas on a highly modified waterway like Sydney Harbour worth it? Or do the social advantages of accessible boating outweigh some questionable environmental gains?

AFFORDABLE STORAGE
Of course, a boat mooring is a more affordable way to store a boat than a marina berth, especially on Sydney Harbour. A private mooring east of the Harbour Bridge costs less than $2000 a year for a 10-11 metre boat. You will pay sevenfold for a marina berth.

Yet it's also true there are oodles of "mooring minders" that have fallen into disrepair. These boats swallow up valuable amenities that could be put to better use by active boaters. So a purge of unseaworthy craft would be a good first step forward.

CASE OF SEAGRASS
At the same time, seagrass is considered vital to the marine ecology and the vast meadows found in less-populated estuaries certainly act as vital fish-nursery grounds.

The Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS) says the seagrass in Sydney Harbour is very precious, too. The "endangered" Posidonia Australis creates the most concern. The strapweed exists in some 20 NSW estuaries, with endangered populations in Port Hacking, Botany Bay, Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, Brisbane Waters and Lake Macquarie.

There are now just small "fragments" remaining in Sydney Harbour, usually mixed in with other seagrasses, and possibly noxious Caulerpa. These remaining stands include places like Manly Cove, east of the Ferry Wharf, where boat moorings have existed for more than a century.

According to the maps, other tiny strapweed pockets can be found around Fairlight, the traditional and popular Spring Cove (opening photo), inner South Head, and Vaucluse, for example.

SEAGRASS SURVEYS
Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and SIMS are now surveying the Harbour seabed at six sites from Manly to Watson's Bay during a three-year seagrass research project. We trust they are not drawing up plans for a Marine Park to preclude boating activities.

SIMS director Professor Emma Johnston believes traditional moorings are a particular concern for seagrass because they carve circular holes in harbour meadows.

"There's a very large block of concrete that usually sits on the bottom which causes a small amount of impact, but really it's the swing," she told the ABC in a recent news story on the issue.

"It's the actual mooring line and the way it moves through the seagrass bed that can cause quite a wide area of damage, not only to the seagrass, but to the soft sediment system itself."

“There are existing moorings that occur within strapweed beds and we need to find better ways of keeping the boats on the harbour so people can use them, but avoiding damage to our precious seagrass."

PILES OF BOATING STRUCTURE
Fellow researcher Doctor Luke Hedge from UNSW told the ABC there was "a lot going on" in Sydney Harbour, particularly around the boating infrastructure, marinas and moorings.

"We have big chains going up holding 40-foot yachts, we have hundreds of moorings in a one kilometre square area," Dr Hedge said.

Howard Glenn, the general manager of Maritime and Transport for NSW, reportedly said it would be great to get rid of the mooring clutter and open-up some of Sydney’s waterways again.

This is about to happen at Clontarf in Middle Harbour, where there have been large losses of seagrass over the years. There is also a traditional hauling ground here. Commercial fishing has been banned from the harbour for almost a decade, but the seagrass hasn't bounced back.

In July, some 41 swing moorings will be removed to make way for a bigger local Clontarf marina, with two big arms of boats in the otherwise fetching Sandy Bay.

The amount of navigable water will improve, researchers hope (but aren't convinced) the seagrass will return, as the bay loses some of its previous charm with the new marina expansion.

MOORINGS NEEDED
Sydney Harbour is home to some 17,000 recreational boat users, which equates to eight per cent of the registered craft in NSW. There are more and more unregistered paddlecraft, sailing dinghies and yachts to contend with, too.

Boat-storage solutions are needed and moorings most certainly need to remain in the mix. It’s incumbent on good harbour architects and authorities to maintain affordable and equitable use of our waterways.

But let's get rid of some of the hulks and mooring minders not fit for anything but worms and gulls. Make the slots available to those boatowners on the waiting list with seaworthy craft.

The five seagrass-friendly visitor moorings established at the traditional anchorage on the western side of Manly Wharf (third photo) a year or so ago have proven popular with visiting boaters, while reducing seabed damage from ground tackle and anchors.

Manly Cove is an example of a win-win solution for the many Sydney boaters, who flock to the harbour to sail, swim, dive, fish, cruise, race, dine, connect with nature and gain much-needed R&R, and the environmentalists advocating greater protection.