Sand removed from the Daintree River Ferry channel will be spread across Newell Beach (Queensland, Australia) over the next few days to replenish the coast and help fight erosion, Douglas Shire Council reported today.
The first trucks were send yesterday to move sand from the ferry site, where almost 9000 cubic meters of sediment is piled up, to nourish areas of the beach that have been lost during storms in the past three years.
The works come as the draft Resilient Coast Strategic Plan, which is open for public comment until April 21 this year.
Douglas Shire Council Mayor Julia Leu said that the draft plan highlights the importance of maintaining healthy foreshore vegetation across the region.
“ The strategic plan’s recommendations reiterate the need to protect our foreshore vegetation from threats such as illegal tree clearing ,” she said. “ Douglas Shire is in a fairly strong position when it comes to coastal hazard resilience and this is due to our efforts to protect our foreshores .”
The Newell Beach replenishment project is expected to continue for the next week.
The ferry channel is usually dredged once a year, however has already been dredged twice due to recent flooding in the Daintree River.
It has been three years since Council placed 35 geotextile bags filled with sand on Newell Beach and put around 7,000 tonnes of material between the groynes.