Dargues Gold Mine ordered to pay $196,000

Big Island Mining Pty Limited (BIM), the operator of the Dargues Gold Mine near Braidwood has been ordered to pay $196,000 in fines and costs after polluting Spring and Majors Creeks, tributaries of the Deua River near Braidwood, on three occasions in 2013.

The offences occurred in the first two weeks of work on the minte site. BIM failed to install adequate sediment and erosion controls and following a period of rainfall, muddy water was allowed to discharge from the construction site into Spring and Majors Creeks as shown in the picture from The Braidwood Times.

Majors Creek is a water supply for rural properties and flows into Araluen Creek, then the Deua River. The Deua River provides 60 per cent of the water supply for the Eurobodalla. The Land and Environment Court ordered BIM to pay $103,000 to the Upper Deua Catchment Landcare Group Inc to be used for riparian health works in and around Araluen Creek; to pay the EPA $93,000 in legal and investigation costs; and to publicise its conviction in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Braidwood Times, and Australian Mining Magazine.

Land and Environment Court Judge, Justice Nicola Pain, said that, ‘As the operator of a gold mine of this size the Defendant should have ensured it had sufficient expertise to confirm that its project approval was being complied with, including where a contractor selected for its particular skills was being employed. That obligation included the ability to ensure adequate implementation of controls on the ground.’

Squid fishing ban in North (Sydney) Harbour Aquatic Reserve
Stan Konstantaras, Secretary RFA of NSW

This has been a very contentious issue and one that has been pursed vigorously by the RFA for over a year now and a good outcome might be on the horizon for anglers who fish for squid in the area. From what we know anglers have been doing this since 1982 when the Reserve was announced and up until a few year ago they never had an issue until the compliance issue was raised and anglers started being cautioned. Anglers can fish for “finfish” but not squid and the RFA still to this day cannot understand or be given a good reason why this cannot occur.

We know the squid are not under any threat. They are targeted with no by-catch, we use lures, we drift over the habitat areas and spend limited time in the zone. It's about as eco-friendly to the area as it gets. On behalf of the RFA of NSW, ANSA NSW and the local fishing clubs in the southern part of Sydney, Stan Konstantaras was joined by Nick Martin and Vic Levitt (Charter), Al McGlashan (Media) and Peter Johnson (north side angling clubs and Shooters & Fishers Party) to discuss the issues with DPI staff, SCUBA divers, conservationists and Manly councillors.

With a good mix of views around the table the issue of squid fishing was sometimes overshadowed by more extreme calls to completely ban fishing and further expand the Reserve. In one case the SCUBA representative claimed squid jigs were being taken by sea birds, turtles and even whales and that "ghost fishing” and “secondary predation” was an issue. The anglers around the table were gob-smacked and asked for photos - suffice to say that this tired old argument went nowhere.

The social issues surrounding anglers access to squid are immense;  from the huge increase in squid or EGI tackle being a major part of tackle sales around the Harbour, there are forums and Facebook pages and even competitions around Australia based solely on squid, the increase in boat and tackle sales (downriggers, heavy tackle rods and reels) focussed on catching kingfish and the use of live squid for bait is a multi-million dollar industry, and European and Asian migration has presented the culinary delicacy of squid into our Australian diet. North Harbour Aquatic Reserve is a safe spot for anglers to fish off the shore and let’s not forget the tourists who come and charter our local guides to catch a squid and kingfish, pumping more dollars into the local economy.

All these positive social issues will far outweigh the chance of a whale coming and taking a squid and jig from inside the reserve! With no threat to the stocks, no need for more science into squid that make up a sustainable and massive biomass of “fish” the only sensible thing to do would be to allow the taking of squid in the North Harbour Aquatic Reserve and in fact all Intertidal Protected Areas in NSW (IPAs) with techniques that are targeted and low impact. With regards to the IPAs we know they were designed to limit the harvesting and hand gathering of creatures like octopus, urchins, limpets and crabs, not transient and migratory fish, including squid. Everyone around the table came to that conclusion, including DPI.

The meeting was well convened and DPI staffers did a great job helping everyone work through the issues and the only sensible outcome the RFA can see is that there isn't any reason why anglers  should not be permitted to fish for squid in the Reserve.

We'll let you know about any further developments.