Toxic Harbour

[KeithB]

I was walking through a Harbourside park in Balmain in Sydney's inner west yesterday, when I came upon a government sign that had put up next to one of the more popular fishing spots. The sign said that:

Sydney Harbour is now polluted with dioxins. Fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge cannot be eaten and, for fish caught east of the Harbour Bridge, you can eat only 150 grams in any one month. That's not even one decent feed!

So our glorious Harbour is now buggered. What I'd like to know is who was it who made the mess in the first place and why haven't they be made to clean it up.

I understand that the mess came from up near Rhodes and is now dispersed through the Harbour sediments. But can anyone throw any more light on this absolute bloody disgrace?

Keith

[Mace]

Answer, we did.

Same down here, the Derwent is so full of heavy metals, phosphates, etc that any bottom dwelling species can't be taken.

Our forebears didn't know what they were doing, now we pay for the clean up as the companies involved cry poor or go into liquidation, only to reform under a different name.

Or just sit around for a few thousand years and wait for the contaminants to decay.

[ATC]

I was walking through a Harbourside park in Balmain in Sydney's inner west yesterday, when I came upon a government sign that had put up next to one of the more popular fishing spots. The sign said that:

Sydney Harbour is now polluted with dioxins. Fish caught west of the Harbour Bridge cannot be eaten and, for fish caught east of the Harbour Bridge, you can eat only 150 grams in any one month. That's not even one decent feed!

So our glorious Harbour is now buggered. What I'd like to know is who was it who made the mess in the first place and why haven't they be made to clean it up.

I understand that the mess came from up near Rhodes and is now dispersed through the Harbour sediments. But can anyone throw any more light on this absolute bloody disgrace?

Keith

I regularly catch the ferry between the harbor bridge & near glades ills.
So many people are fishing, catching to eat, I see people putting pots down for crabs etc... All the time.

Some areas, eg near Rhodes, breakfast point (the old gasworks area) are so polluted that they have puts mats over the sediment, and they don't want boats in there as the propellers stir up the crap that these bastards up pumped out over the years.

[rags]

 Union Carbide was  the major  polluter in the area. I can remember as a kid in the early 70s living North of the Parramatta river near Ryde that when the southerly wind blew on a hot summer afternoon then so did the stench from the River/Bay .An interesting link to read about the history http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/tag/homebush-bay/
Developers apparently purchased a lot of the land around there for a token $1 and remediated the land before building multi story unit blocks,shopping centres etc and covered every thing else in concrete. No community vegie gardens around there!

[03hilux]

Similar signs have been at all boat ramps, wharfs and popular fishing spots west of the bridge for about 10 - 15 years now.

[oldmate]

Union Carbide was  the major  polluter in the area. I can remember as a kid in the early 70s living North of the Parramatta river near Ryde that when the southerly wind blew on a hot summer afternoon then so did the stench from the River/Bay .An interesting link to read about the history http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/tag/homebush-bay/
Developers apparently purchased a lot of the land around there for a token $1 and remediated the land before building multi story unit blocks,shopping centres etc and covered every thing else in concrete. No community vegie gardens around there!

That's an interesting read. Thanks

[KeithB]

It does make you wonder how many Australian water ways are too polluted for fishing.
Just from this thread I can think of:

Parramatta Rover
Sydney Harbour (and I guess Middle Harbour)
Derwent River
Cooks River.

Does anyone know of any others?

Keith

[oldmate]

The yarra
The swan
The Brisbane.

Only guessing???

[speewa158]

Wasn't the Brissy river flushed out a few years ago     

[oldmate]

Wasn't the Brissy river flushed out a few years ago     

Yeah but who know what got washed into it also

[speewa158]

North to the Great Barrier Reef    maybe,,,,,,,,,,,,

[achjimmy]

Union Carbide was  the major  polluter in the area. I can remember as a kid in the early 70s living North of the Parramatta river near Ryde that when the southerly wind blew on a hot summer afternoon then so did the stench from the River/Bay .An interesting link to read about the history http://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/tag/homebush-bay/
Developers apparently purchased a lot of the land around there for a token $1 and remediated the land before building multi story unit blocks,shopping centres etc and covered every thing else in concrete. No community vegie gardens around there!

God read but that would have been one of zillion rivers treated like that back then.  There was also a paint factory on the Rhodes pensiular that made aerospace and marine paints (etches etc) and I know nearby a electronics place that used to overflow to the river and out out some nasty stuff. But in and all the harbour today's is cleaner and heather and will continue to get better with management.

[craigtempo]

Yes its all true .I grew up in Concord west in the 70s, and depending on which way the wind blew the smells were astonashing .Csr chemicals at Rhodes ..... blood and bone from the abhitour.... Arnnots biscuits was always good .
As far as the fishing goes well they stopped all comercial fishing west of the habour bridge , how many years ago and the fish populations in sydney and botany bay have exploded . Every year bigger (older)  kingfish schools are turning up ....salmon ...... bream ... flathead .... jewies you name it ..wales even come in and hang around the opera house .

Practice catch and release I guess but I dont have a problem with that .

[Rumpig]

Yeah but who know what got washed into it also

plenty of oil and similar stuff from workshops for a start...when the water started receeding down the road from me, i went for a look on Beaudesert Rd....the amount of oil laying about the place (amongst all the rubbish also) really surprised me, but obviously it had come from plenty of surrounding businesses in the industrial areas. There was a few cases i recall seeing on the news of people who helped clean up afterwards getting bad infections from cuts they got, makes you wonder how much sewerage and the like ended up in the waterways also.

[oldmate]

plenty of oil and similar stuff from workshops for a start...when the water started receeding down the road from me, i went for a look on Beaudesert Rd....the amount of oil laying about the place (amongst all the rubbish also) really surprised me, but obviously it had come from plenty of surrounding businesses in the industrial areas. There was a few cases i recall seeing on the news of people who helped clean up afterwards getting bad infections from cuts they got, makes you wonder how much sewerage and the like ended up in the waterways also.

Yep agreed mate