News

& Updates

Council pursues feasibility of off-leash dog areas at North Palm Beach & Mona Vale beaches

On 28 July 2020, Northern Beaches Council passed the following resolution: Council do all things necessary to prepare a report for Council’s consideration regarding the public exhibition of a trial along a set portion of North Palm Beach, and at the southernmost end of Mona Vale Beach. The Palm Beach...

Mitigation measures to protect the seagrass at Station Beach remain inadequate

The potential impact on any seagrass meadow depends on the level of disturbance and accessibility. Various research papers note that Posidonia australis has low capacity to respond to disturbance (Unsworth et al, 2015; O’Brien et al, 2018 and Meehan & West, 2000). Currently the proposed REF mitigation measures conditions include...

Station Beach and Palm Beach as a tourist destination at risk from dogs

The natural and historical heritage values of Palm Beach have long been revered by tourists and are highlighted in the cultural importance of Station Beach, the Barrenjoey Headland and Lighthouse, and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The Barrenjoey Lighthouse was built in 1881 and the associated houses beside the Lighthouse, as...

Northern Beaches Council Resolves to Prepare & Submit a Development Application to Authorise the off-leash dog Trial

At the Northern Beaches Council meeting on 23 June 2020, Council resolved to prepare, lodge and progress a development application to authorise the off-leash trial at Station Beach, without admissions or prejudice in relation to proceedings in the Land and Environment Court of NSW commenced by the Palm Beach Protection...

The importance of seagrass

Seagrasses are an important foundation species in shallow marine ecosystems and provide critical ecosystem services, including stabilizing sediments, sequestering carbon and provide habitat and an energy source for a diverse fauna. We know that recovery after disturbance to a seagrass meadow takes a long time (decades), if at all. Marine...

NSW Authorities preference is for alternative dog sites to Station Beach

NSW government agencies have publicly reported that they prefer alternative locations to Station Beach. This includes the NSW Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries), which provided its comments on the Review of Environmental Factors on 14 August 2019, stating it “has a strong preference for the use of ocean beaches for...

We must take seriously any threats to the marine environment

The recommendations in Appendix C, p.27 of the Review of Environment Factors 2019, commissioned by Council for the proposed off-leash area trial, notes that: a) Given the widespread damage to the seagrass bed from other human disturbances off Station Beach, any further damage from disturbances by dog swimming should be...

Council’s measures to protect the seagrass meadows will be impossible to enforce

Since 1 January 2020, we have observed at Station Beach poor compliance and ongoing breaches by a large number of dog walkers. We observe regularly that most dogs are unleashed when entering the beach. We note that compliance with the permitted times of day is too often ignored. This is...

Northern Beaches local government area tops dog attack statistics again

The NSW Office of Local Government has recently released the statistics for the number of dog attack incidents reported by NSW councils from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020, showing that the Northern Beaches area has the second highest number of dog attacks, with 58 official reported incidents. Although, the numbers...

Additional Stresses from Dog Activity… did you know?

The Station Beach seagrass meadow is already experiencing stress from human pollution of the Pittwater embayment and the invasive alga Caulerpa taxifolia. Dogs trampling of the seagrass will likely add to these existing stresses and extend the threats from the Caulerpa taxifolia....