As per the prospect raised by the New South Wales Department of Industry and Investment that Hunter’s fishing industry should be well compensate if the Tillegra Dam is built. Hunter water had released an Environmental Assessment Report (EAR) for the $477 million Tillegra Dam proposal in 2009. Responding to the report the Department of Industry and Investment submitted statement in State Parliament after a “call for papers” motion from The Greens.
In its paper the Department has raised concerns about the impacts of withholding the fresh water that currently flows into the Hunter River Estuary from the Williams River, which will be dammed if the Tillegra Dam project goes ahead. It is mentioned that the dam could have a significant long term effect on estuarine processes and productivity, with flow on impacts to the commercial fishing industry that relies on the estuary as a breeding and nursery area for its product.
In the report the Department discusses the issue of financial compensation for prawners and fishers because of the damage done to breeding grounds by the dam. If approved, the Department would therefore request a condition of consent that would require Hunter Water to monitor and model prawn catches and commercial fish catches in the Hunter River and offshore fisheries reliant on Hunter prawn and fish species, to determine the level of impact on the commercial fishing sector from the project.
This dam project would result in the losses of the farmers and they should be compensate equally. Geoff Hyde has been a prawn trawler on the Hunter River since 1951 and is worried that Tillegra Dam will starve the river of fresh water and be disastrous for the local industry. The Greens MP John Kaye said the Department of Industry and Investment is not the first State Government agency to raise concerns about Tillegra Dam.
It is said that the dam still needs approval from the NSW Department of Planning and the Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett. The Water Minister Phil Costa said that such issues raised in the Environmental Assessment will be addressed by Hunter Water in its submission to the Department of Planning. He added that the current proposal includes a $26 million package of offset measures including building a new fishway at Seaham weir and the removal of several other fish barriers in the region.
