Work Underway on Tasmania’s Tamar River

A great deal of work has been underway on the implementation of the Federal Government’s $3 million Tamar River Recovery Plan for cleaning up the River and improving the local environment and economy in Tasmania.

Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt and Federal Member for Bass Andrew Nikolic today visited the Tamar River to inspect the work and the progress being made on the project.

The Tamar River Recovery Plan is part of the Australian Government’s Coastal River Recovery Initiative, an important component of the National Landcare Programme, which is providing $9.4 million over four years to improve the environmental health of five targeted urban and peri-urban coastal waterways around Australia.

“Silt deposits have been a long-term problem in the Tamar, affecting the river’s health, local tourism, business and recreational use,” Minister Hunt said. “The Tamar River Recovery Plan will help to improve water quality by tackling sediment problems, reducing nutrient run-off and improving wastewater management.”

“Last year I visited the Tamar River to announce the $3 million funding commitment. Today I’ve had a chance to see the work being undertaken to address the problems and restore the Tamar’s health,” added Minister Hunt.

The project involves a sediment raking program, riparian fencing and revegetation, and riverbank erosion stabilization at priority locations along the river. Monitoring the water quality of the Tamar Estuary will also be carried out.

“The people of Tasmania value the economic, environmental and recreational services the Tamar provides to the community and have been concerned about how silt is affecting the river’s health, local tourism and business. The investment in managing the siltation of this important waterway will go a long way to improving the local environment and economy in northern Tasmania.” said Mr Nikolic.

This investment in the Coastal River Recovery Initiative is an important part of the Government’s total investment in natural resource management which totals more than $2 billion over four years.

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Press Release, October 10, 2014