THE seaweed saga unfolding at Port MacDonnell has taken a new twist with the Coastal Protection Board SA giving Grant District Council the go-ahead to relocate the material to two alternative sites.
But council had to scrap plans to dump the material at another site – two kilometres east of Racecourse Bay – after angry residents blocked road access to the emerging trucks.
Council is now investigating whether it can tip the seaweed over a cliff at the Cape Northumberland Lighthouse area.
This follows The Border Watch exclusively revealing council’s plan to spread the seaweed along a Racecourse Bay beach or the high water mark.
With around 4000 cubic metres of rotting seaweed being excavated from the Port MacDonnell foreshore, council is now facing a conundrum on where to take the material.
This follows the rock lobster processing industry raising fears dumping the seaweed on a beach near Racecourse Bay could potentially damage the industry given it was a seawater collection point for fish factories.
While council started stockpiling the rotting seaweed on Monday off a beach near Racecourse Bay, it has now halted all dumping at the site.
Council works manager Adrian Schutz said he received a phone call yesterday from the Coastal Protection Board giving approval for two alternative sites.
“We are exhausting all avenues to find a location for the seaweed,” Mr Schutz said.
He said the council was now investigating whether it would be possible to discard the material off a cliff near the lighthouse area.
Racecourse Bay resident Jacqui Rovensky expressed her fury that council began dumping seaweed at an alternative site yesterday.
She said this alternative area was pristine, similar to the original location.
“The Environment Protection Authority people have got rocks in their heads if they think this rotting seaweed should be dumped in these locations,” Ms Rovensky said.
“The area already smells like when you empty a sewerage tank because of the build-up of rotting seaweed and dead seal carcasses.
“We already have to shut our windows because of the stench – we do not need more seaweed.”
She claimed this material had been building up along the Port MacDonnell foreshore for years and included rubbish.
“This should be buried, not placed on a beach,” Ms Rovensky said.
She said authorities could not expect residents to be happy about the situation given the picturesque and pristine nature of the coastline.
Racecourse Bay residents Alida and David Mortimer stumbled on the stockpile of seaweed and trucks funnelling in and out of the site during a morning walk on Tuesday.
With the couple moving to Racecourse Bay to get away from what they claim was wind farm inaudible infra-sound levels near Millicent, she said she was now shocked rotting seaweed was being dumped near her home.
“We saw them loading up the trucks in Port MacDonnell on Monday,” Ms Mortimer said.
“We sort of forgot about it, but when we went out for our walk we saw them dumping it here.”
She claimed authorities were shifting the problem from one place to another.
“The Racecourse Bay beach is already covered in a lot of seaweed naturally from the storms – it is only going to build up more,” Ms Mortimer said.
