Traumatic landscapes of plastic, pollution and exploitation

The coastline of Spain is known as the ‘Sea of Plastic’ ("Mar de Plástico”) It is the world’s largest plastic greenhouse complex with 350 square km of fruit and vegetables grown by immigrant labour for the horticultural industry. >>
https://www.behance.net/gallery/22272681/Mar-del-Plastico#

Could we do the same thing to the coast of NSW?
NSW Greens to move bill to let councils better regulate berry industry as it continues rapid expansion

“People move into these beautiful valleys for the lifestyle and the environment but then wake up one day and within months they are looking at an industrial-scale blueberry farm."

"Faehrmann’s bill will call for mandated buffers between intensive horticulture farms and homes and waterways, as well as strict controls on spraying, runoff and irrigation and greater monitoring of produce for pesticides."

"Blueberry farming is rapidly expanding beyond Coffs Harbour, where it began several decades ago, into the Nambucca Valley and the Kempsey area to the south, and west toward Grafton and Bellingen."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/31/australia-berry-industry-bill-nsw-greens
#rivers #water #extractivism #pesticides #MidNorthCoast #ChinasOrchard #horticulturalIndustry #regulation #runoff #pollution #plastic #PALM #blueberries #SeaOfPlastics #TraumaticLandscapes #NSWCoast #NSW #CoffsHarbour #Nambucca #Kempsey #Grafton #Bellingen #residents #habitability #NSWLogging

Pesticide spray drift from intensive horticulture on the the mid-north coast NSW -
Discontent in the region.

Home owners, dairy and beef producers among those concerned about how pesticide use affects their land as well as water quality on the mid-north coast

“Between 2001 and 2016 blueberry farming expanded 400% – mainly around the Coffs Harbour region.”

“This monitoring showed the continued detection of pesticides in most waterways sampled, highlighting the need for ongoing monitoring in the region.”

“Monitoring in the Nambucca valley by the EPA has detected three different pesticides in low levels in three creeks, suggesting water quality in the area is not being impacted by excessive amounts of pesticides.”
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/09/blueberry-farms-nsw-north-coast-rapid-expansion-development-pesticides
#Pesticides #food #beef #diary #prawns #blueberries #plantations #monoculture #rivers #water #export #runoff #pollution #neonicotinoids #imidacloprid #dimethoate #SprayDrift #CoffsHarbour #Macksville #Nambucca #Woolgoolga #conflict #violence #EPA #regulation #horticulture #industry #tourism #PeoplesHomes #TankWater #governance #MidNorthCoast #NSW #biodiversity #wildlife #extractivism

"... Poor pesticide spraying practices in the Nambucca Valley and Coffs Harbour regions...Chemical banned by European Union still used in Australia."

When you drive from Nambucca Valley to the Coffs Harbour regions you can see giant white plastic nets enclosing blueberries, raspberries and blackberries plantations. There are toxic chemicals on some berries, the water and the area.

"Banned chemical thiometon detected in berries sold at supermarkets."

"Blueberry farming has boomed in NSW, including in the Nambucca Valley, as minimal red tape is required to set up. Blueberry farms can be started without formal registration or oversight, making it hard for authorities to track pesticide use. Since January 2022, the EPA has prosecuted 21 pesticide-related incidents across a range of crops in local courts across NSW... The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) announced a review into the use of dimethoate on blueberries, raspberries and blackberries."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-07/pesticide-review-thiometon-dimethoate-blueberries-raspberries/105701674
#food #regulation #toxins #pesticide #water #BerryIndustry #EPA #APVMA #governance #fruits #blueberries #NSW #plantations #MidNorthCoast #nambucca #CoffsHarbour #pollution #sprayDrift #dimethoate #thiometon #neurotoxins

Girrwaa Duguula - teach language through song.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-19/choir-sings-in-gumbaynggirr-reviving-ancient-indigenous-language/104795492

( Gumbaynggirr country between #Nambucca Heads to #Grafton in New South Wales. )

#FirstNations #Gumbaynggirr #Choirs #Singing

Locals
"Conviction of a Dundurrabin
landholder in Coffs Harbour Local Court on 30 August, for damaging vegetation and unlawfully clearing more than two hectares of Chaelundi State Conservation Area, northwest of Dorrigo.The Court heard that between January and November 2021, the landholder unlawfully cleared vegetation with a bulldozer, felled mature trees, and extended a fence line into Chaelundi State Conservation Area to increase his grazing area." >>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/landholders-urged-to-respect-neighbouring-conservation-areas

Boambee Headland
to remove both a picnic table and bench. “The unauthorised repositioning of the table setting – and the laying of some 20 square metres of mulch and gravel at the cliff site – led to environmental damage in an Endangered Ecological Community of Themeda grassland.” >>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/surfers-in-wrangle-with-council-over-bench-move

The Nambucca Valley Conservation Association
has lodged an objection to scheduled logging in Little Newry State Forest (SF), claiming it is home to key koala habitat and that planning requirements have not been fulfilled.>>
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/forest-campaigners-rally-for-little-newry-ahead-of-logging-start-date
#Conservation #NPs #LandClearing #filibusterism #Nambucca #biodiversity #MidNorthCoast #NSWLogging #LittleNewry #koalas #biodiversity

Illegal logging claim in Mistake State Forest in the Nambucca Valley

“Currently 40% of logging operations underway in public native forests on the North Coast are within the Great Koala National Park’s proposed boundaries. These are smash and grab operations” Susie Russell, The North Coast Environment Council.
>>
https://www.ncec.org.au/illegal_logging_claim_in_mistake_state_forest_in_the_nambucca_valley
#Nambucca #NSWLogging #LoggingIndustry #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #BiodiversityCrisis #ClimateCrisis

Would rare glossy black cockatoos nest in the proposed Great Koala National Park on the NSW Mid North Coast?

Conservationists are celebrating the rare discovery of nests of one of Australia's most-threatened cockatoos.

The bird is one of the most-threatened species of cockatoos in Australia
For the first time in more than 20 years, glossy black cockatoo nests have been discovered on the New South Wales' Mid North Coast.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-03/rare-glossy-black-cockatoo-nests-found-in-northern-nsw/102795868

Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Biliirrgan) listed as vulnerable under federal environmental law
https://glossyblack.org.au/glossy-squad-northern-rivers/

#Nambucca #Bellingen #CoffsHarbour #GumbaynggirrCountry #Biliirrgan #TheGreatKoalaNationalPark #logging #vulnerable #birds #conservation

The Great Koala National Park misunderstood
A letter by Grahame Douglas, President, National Parks Association of NSW, Korora.

Excerpt:
"...The current Government committed to the establishment of a GKNP comprising existing national parks (135,000 Ha) as well as areas of native forest (approximately 175,000 Ha).

Currently, native forest harvesting is neither economically or environmentally sustainable, which is why there is a need to invest in genuine plantation forests.

Forestry Corporation currently cross subsidizes native forest logging through its profitable Softwoods Division and direct Government subsidies on the public purse.

Haulers will need to go back to their original areas (hopefully not native forests) rather than the accelerated harvesting occurring around Kempsey, Nambucca and Coffs Harbour.

Clearly the impacts of national parks management are far less than that of FCNSW contractors, which have been fined for breaching logging conditions and even harvesting illegally on adjoining neighbours’ land.

Nearly 90 percent of the NSW timber market is currently supplied from profitable softwood plantations (including Forest Corporation NSW) and would be closer to 95 percent if export woodchips from the Southern Forests ceased.

Pallets, fencing and garden stakes do not need to use native forest timbers from the Mid North Coast. What a waste.

The GKNP is our main hope for the conservation of koala and other native species which is why the public and local businesses support its early establishment."

> Read the letter in full:
https://www.newsofthearea.com.au/opinion-great-koala-national-park-misunderstood
#MidNorthCoast #Kempsey #Nambucca #CoffsHarbour #Bellingen #FCNSW #logging #StopLogging #SaveTuckersNob #extinction #koalas #biodiversity

Dilapidated sewage systems and food

"Nambucca Valley oyster farmers demand council action to stop sewage spills. Oyster farmers on the NSW Mid North Coast warn they will take legal action if an ageing sewage system isn't fixed. There have been at least 17 sewage overflows that have affected the Nambucca River in the past two years."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-09/nambucca-valley-oyster-farmers-demand-council-action-spills/102700700
#Nambucca #NambuccaRiver #sewage #floods #food #rivers #NSW

#Gumbaynggirr is on the Gambay - #FirstLanguages map. #Gambay showcases over 780 languages.

https://gambay.com.au/languages/Gumbaynggirr
https://www.firstlanguages.org.au/

#FLA #IndigenousLanguages #Coffs #Bellingen #Nambucca