Dalmeny resident Peter Bernard is urging the Eurobodalla Council to do more about the growing numbers of seals inside the Narooma inlet.
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He is also urging the council to do more to push for improvements and shoring up of the breakwall structures at the bar crossing where the seals have been hauling out for years.
The haul-out spot on the southern breakwall has become a major tourism attraction but now there is a new phenomenon of individuals heading further into the inlet, resting on footpaths and being aggressive at fish cleaning tables.
Mr Bernard addressed the Eurobodalla Shire councillors at their first meeting of 2018 on February 13 and has also written to mayor Liz Innes on the subject of seals and breakwall infrastructure.
“The loss of the lower levels of the breakwalls was created by the South Coast low in 2016 and despite previous warnings to the council, the collapse is accelerating at a rapid pace,” he writes.
“Due to the loss of resting places, (the seals) are moving to higher levels and further into the inlet, the so-called shark-proof net, onto inlet footpaths and around fish cleaning areas.”
Mr Bernard acknowledged the breakwall structures were the responsibility of the NSW Lands Department but wants the council to push for additional repairs.
The department had conducted repairs on the northern breakwall, but the southern breakwall where the seals regularly hauled out also needed work, he said.
He was also opposed to barricades and bollards on the southern breakwall due to the safety issue of emergency services being able to reach the end of the structure in the advent of an incident such as a boat going over on the bar.
After concerns were raised by the public about seals feeding on fish skeletons and scraps thrown into the water at the Apex Park boat ramp, the Narooma News has decided to ask the question as to whether special bins should be put in place at the fish cleaning table.
The bins would have to be emptied regularly and the contents could go toward the council’s existing composting program at the Brou landfill facility.
The question has been put to Eurobodalla Council if these bins would be feasible and whether additional signs could be erected warning people not to feed the seals. We await the answer.
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