THOUSANDS of cubic metres of rotting seaweed excavated along the Port MacDonnell foreshore will no longer be dumped back onto a regional beach.
In what has been labelled a win for Grant District Council and seaside residents, the seagrass will now be stored temporarily at a Port MacDonnell landfill site.
This material will eventually be transferred to BioGro’s Wandilo site for processing.
The material – which has been blamed for causing a stench to waft over Port MacDonnell – triggered community uproar after SA Coastal Protection Board directed council to put it back into the ecosystem.
Council dumped plans to relocate the seaweed to a beach at Racecourse Bay after community backlash in The Border Watch.
At this week’s council meeting, Grant District Mayor Richard Sage said a long-term solution must be found to remedy the problems in the harbour.
He said council also needed to clear restrictive red-tape in terms of removing the seaweed from the foreshore.
Mr Sage said the dilemma facing council was people did not want seaweed anywhere near the foreshore and the cost to dump the material was “horrendous”.
“We need to resolve the issue so next time we need to remove seaweed we can do it much more efficiently and quickly,” he said.
Port MacDonnell based councillor Gillian Clayfield described the amount of seaweed being excavated as “unbelievable”.
“In the long-term for the sustainability of the fishing industry, we are going to have to look at somehow fixing the harbour,” Cr Clayfield said.
Council works spokesperson Matthew Little told council this week the works department had been hamstrung due to government departments.
But he said the phones had been a “lot quieter this week”.
Mr Sage flagged taking up the issue with Transport Minister Stephan Knoll today when he visits the region.
