The dirty secrets of Sydney Harbour.

[bob10]

Sydney, beautiful one day, toxic the next.


Toxic fish, dead sand, mountains of junk: Sydney Harbour in all its gory (https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/wellbeing/2019/09/20/sydney-harbour-in-all-its-gory/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Saturday%20News%20-%2020190921)

[ATH]

I suspect it's no different than any other harbour surrounded by a massive population. To most people like my younger bro who lives in one of those exclusive burbs around it, boats on it and watches it from his balcony, it's superb.
Just another scare story to get a bit of publicity.
AlanH.

[bob10]

I suspect it's no different than any other harbour surrounded by a massive population. To most people like my younger bro who lives in one of those exclusive burbs around it, boats on it and watches it from his balcony, it's superb.
Just another scare story to get a bit of publicity.
AlanH.

Ignorance is bliss. I suggest in this case, publicity may be required to wake people up. It would be like living in a cess pit. There are signs that warn not to fish west of the bridge, and limit what you eat east of the bridge.


Perhaps one problem that inhibits change is the false sense of security that comes with so much beauty. It’s been years since commercial fishing was allowed in Sydney Harbour because of elevated dioxins – a group of toxic chemical compounds that accumulate in fatty tissues and can cause problems with reproduction, development, and the immune system.

[NavyDiver]

My Diving Course in Sydney while at HMAS Penguin and Dives from ships in GI always turned up some interesting stuff. Boat motors, Cars and even a safe or two pulled out. I was always looking for WW1 WW2 stuff near GI[biggrin] Got a few choice bits.

Eating fish was on for us south of the big coat hanger except of course for the types of fish that ate blind mullets [biggrin].

Suspect its a lot cleaner now with no or a lot less blind mullets and industry really tidied up. The industrial sediment remains of course.

[bob10]

My Diving Course in Sydney while at HMAS Penguin and Dives from ships in GI always turned up some interesting stuff. Boat motors, Cars and even a safe or two pulled out. I was always looking for WW1 WW2 stuff near GI[biggrin] Got a few choice bits.

Eating fish was on for us south of the big coat hanger except of course for the types of fish that ate blind mullets [biggrin].

Suspect its a lot cleaner now with no or a lot less blind mullets and industry really tidied up. The industrial sediment remains of course.

I'll provide the link from the internet to a briefing paper from the NSW Parliament, briefing paper no. 3 , 2015. It is an eye opener.


https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/researchpapers/Documents/pollution-in-sydney-harbour-sewage-toxic-chemica/Pollution%20in%20Sydney%20Harbour.pdf

[Rolly]

Then compare the inner harbour to Cabbage tree bay marine reserve. Incredible to see how well it has recovered from the 70's where it was an underwater desert.

[cripesamighty]

I have heard of several ports in the past having had an unofficial use as an ‘anti-fouling’ harbour due to pollution. Once a year, companies would moor their boats/ships in port for a week or two and the marine growth on the hulls would be nuked. After that, scrape the hull and you are good to go.

[bob10]

Then compare the inner harbour to Cabbage tree bay marine reserve. Incredible to see how well it has recovered from the 70's where it was an underwater desert.

That's good news. There should be an effort by the people of Sydney to force State and Federal Governments to come up with a plan to, if not fix, at least bring the Harbour back to an acceptable condition. Sydney Harbour is one of Australia's greatest assets, and to do nothing is shameful. What to do? Better minds than mine should be working on a solution. Dredge Parramatta river and the Western Harbour, to remove the layers of toxic pollution? But where would you put it? The Harbour is like a newly painted house, full of white ants. Looks pretty on the surface, but eventually will come tumbling down.

The following story can be found in full in the book 'DOYLES FISH COOKBOOK', by Alice Doyle

One icon of the Harbour that tells the story of its degradation is a little café that used to be called the Ozone Café, Watson's Bay. Grandma and grandpa Newton opened their first little shop on the spot back in the late 1880's. Ferries used to bring picnic parties to the Bay, grandfather fished, grandma did a bit of business at the shop. The Smith Brothers came and settled in Watson's Bay, and with grandpa Newton, net fished all the inlets of the harbour. Bream, whiting, silver bream, black bream and flathead by the boatload . AS well as seahorses, sea stars squid and octopus. Back in the day only the Italian neighbours would buy the squid and octopus. That little shop grew into Doyle's on the beach. Now, professional fishing is totally banned in all of the Harbour, and amateur's are told they must not eat fish caught west of the bridge, and limit their consumption of fish caught east of the bridge, for their health's sake! And still the Harbour is being promoted as pristine, to the World. SHAME.

[Fatso]

Only going to get worse unless they stop cramming people into Sydney .

[Bigbjorn]

Only going to get worse unless they stop cramming people into Sydney .

Not going to happen. The land sharks and real estate criminals have the ear of government at all levels. "Donations", brown paper bags, and so on. More people mean more units/flats/townhouses, etc and more profits to the white shoe brigade.

Besides, in our democratic system we can not tell people where they can and can not live. Wartime emergency powers were needed to do this and tell people where they were to work. (The Manpower Commission).

[Fatso]

[bigwhistle] The brown paper bags bring back memories . :ohyes:

[trout1105]

[bigwhistle] The brown paper bags bring back memories . :ohyes:

I always thought that was a Qld "Thing"[biggrin]

[Fatso]

I always thought that was a Qld "Thing"[biggrin]

" Dont you worry about that " [bigrolf] The old brown paper bag has been around for donations or otherwise down the ages . Some pretty interesting stuff went on back in the 70s / 80s in the old Builders Laboures days in Sydney .

[101RRS]

As a kid in the early 60s I used to catch the Manly ferry and the one thing that remains in my mind was the disgusting state of the harbour - rubbish everywhere and the water was not green but brown - the other thing that I remember was the disgusting smells on the train while getting into the city as it passed through the inner southern suburbs on the way to Central Station.

12 years later I was diving in Sydney Harbour in 74/75 and 76 and even then - visually the harbour had improved a hell of a lot - the blind mullets were still around but the surface of the water was basically clean and it was green. Underneath it was a different matter as there was a lot of rubbish on the bottom but the water column was cleaner than it had been before. The rubbish that was in the harbour has settled on the bottom and rotting down into the sediment along with all the heavy metals from earlier years. Certainly less was going into the harbour but the stuff on the bottom was still there.

Now 40 years later most heavy industry on the harbour is gone along with the rubbish - what is left is heavily regulated so there is not a lot of fresh industrial waste going into the harbour.

However the crap in the sediments from years gone by is still there, storm water management is still poor so lots of rubbish still gets into the harbour. Also a major worry are harbour side developments where contaminated soils are disturbed and they find their way into the harbour despite the efforts of the EPA. The replanting of mangroves up the river will help lock this up but it will always be there.

Overall the harbour looks pretty good compared to what it was 60 years ago but now the dangers in the form of heavy metals and decayed material still lurk in the sediment and will probably remain an issue forever.

Yes it is not pristine, but major gains have been made over the years.

Garry

[bob10]

As usual, there are only two cities on our East coast, according to southern media. And now, Sydney has a rat infestation.



Rats are starting to run the show in Australia's eastern cities (https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/09/26/rats-sydney-melbourne/)

[Bigbjorn]

" Dont you worry about that " [bigrolf] The old brown paper bag has been around for donations or otherwise down the ages . Some pretty interesting stuff went on back in the 70s / 80s in the old Builders Laboures days in Sydney .

I knew two guys who were "collectors" for a Sydney gangster. They assured me that payments from Abe, Lenny, Paddles, George, et al went all the way to the top.