Help Stop The worlds Biggest Salt Mine

Please help stop the worlds biggest Salt Mine over here on the Ningaloo Reef - Exmouth Gulf from going ahead.

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Roger that, let's halt the salt!

done. everyone here should make it their last good deed for 2006!

darren

I recon once we Halt the Salt we should be stopping all the trawlers in the Gulf as well. I recon they tear up the Gulf and kill a lot of marine life in the process particularly with their bycatch. I doubt they let people know when they catch turtles, dolphins and dugongs.

We should get everyone out who are stuffing up the place.

I agree

The trawlers got in there back in the sixties...back when no one really knew about the place never lone whats underwater. I don't think they would have been allowed if they tried to get in there in this day and age.

We have dived in the Gulf and you can see where they have been and yes they have destroyed much.

Anyhow lets see if we can stop this SALT MINE for now.

I agree

The trawlers got in there back in the sixties...back when no one really knew about the place never lone whats underwater. I don't think they would have been allowed if they tried to get in there in this day and age.

 

We have dived in the Gulf and you can see where they have been and yes they have destroyed much.

 

Anyhow lets see if we can stop this SALT MINE for now.

People go on about the protecting gulf - makes me mad. 40 years ago the Gulf was a beautiful coral garden and then Kailis came along with their trawlers. They clear felled all the coral bommies by dragging a chain between two trawlers to make the sea bed better for prawns and trawlers. They are still doing it today!

And we let them get them a way with it. Don't make me mad!

if you ask me Cape Conservation are in bed with the real criminals here. Kailis are taking the girls for a ride for their own commerical gain because they don't want the local pay rates to rise. Can't they see it? Makes me sick

Hi Boxjelly.

Yes we dive in the Gulf and can see/film first hand what they have done and are still doing....its not very good and we hope in another ten or so years they will be made to stop, but that's another job. It's probably why the GULF is so dirty half the time. Would of loved to seen it back then though. <_<

Having old rusty third world ships dumping ballast water can do more than what Kailis has ever done as it could wipe out the entire reef. Then there is the fact that they may just sell the whole operation to China a couple years later as that's where all the Salt is going too. Then the company itself, check out what they got up to overseas

The girls in Cape Conservation are not in bed with anyone, (execpt their partners) and don't get any money for their work. They are extremely intelligent and are driven by just passion and that's what scares many. They know what damage Kailis are doing along with all the rec fishing that goes on here.

I don't get it why the girls are working with the alliance? It is sort of like getting married to your partners murderer? I've flown over the Gulf when the trawlers have been out it is just one big red mud plume. Nothing grows on the bottom and they trawl an area three times the whole of Perth. I was talking to one of the trawler captains and he was saying that only about 10% of what they catch is prawns if they are lucky and that at least 50% of the other 90% of the bycatch is dead before it hits the water. They even said the escape route thingy doesn't always work and there is always a turtle or something bigger that still gets tangled up & never gets out.

Anyway, I guess no one here in Exmouth wants to do anything about it, some of my friends said they are too scared to say anything against the Kailis guys.

Someone was saying there was already an oyster virus in the Gulf that someone has let in probably off spat or something. I hope that doesn't kill off our pearl industry here. It's one of the best environments to grow oysters so I wouldn't like to see the salt project or anyone else stuff things up further.

I was trying to see if anyone has some more info on the water that comes off the land & helps the prawn catch. I saw the photo on the Halt the Salt web site that was really good and wanted to know if anyone had some more info on how much water comes into the Gulf when the rainstorms or cyclones come in. I recon we might need it if that salt mine company tries anything to cover that up.

Ciao!

You don't have to tell us the damage they do, we know skippers and other people that work there. They know also how much damage they did/doing. Chaining the bommies into a cemetery even...it's not very good.

Need all the ammo we can to put pressure on the government to not allow the salt mine first them work on other things later.

Yes there is a virus going around and shell got moved out of the area. Know one knows what caused it yet.

Not only is there normal creeks that flow into the gulf on the other side but even undeground flows happen. Also when the creeks do flow they do not follow their correct path so their engineers would never think of that in desiging the area over there. Then there is the fact that many objects lost in the Gulf have turrned up down the west coast...kind of blows their theory away about the Gulf not being connected to the Ningaloo Reef in any way...idiots...

Here is some stuff to check out.

Exmouth Gulf Under A-Salt

Five minutes of your time can help stop a new massive project threatening Ningaloo and surrounds

Exmouth Gulf is one of Western Australia’s most productive marine ecosystems: adjacent to Ningaloo Reef, it contains seagrass beds, micro-algal habitats, mangrove nurseries and creek interfaces and is home to hundreds of species of fish and invertebrates as well as being an important resting place for Humpback Whales, and a breeding place for endangered Green Turtles and Dugongs. The mangrove forest on the eastern Gulf is a vital nursery for crustaceans and fish, supporting significant commercial and recreational fisheries.

The Gulf is the remnant of an ancient delta system, which floods after tropical cyclones: feeding nutrients from the land to the marine environment along the entire eastern side of the Gulf. This nutrient input has created an unusually productive and diverse marine ecosystem, highly dependent upon a healthy outflow system.

Under Assault: Straits Resources plan to construct 411 square kilometres of evaporative salt ponds along the eastern Gulf coast to produce salt for use in industrial processes.

This will:

Require diverting creeks and drainage around the salt project, heavily impacting the flow of nutrients from land to sea and having a radical effect on natural creek drainage and sensitive mangrove systems, starving Gulf marine ecosystems of vital nutrients.

Create a toxic waste product called “bitterns†- highly toxic concentrated salts and heavy metals that need to be contained from entering the marine environment. Regular cyclones in the Exmouth region threaten the integrity of proposed bitterns tailings dams.

Lead to dredging of the Gulf to admit the massive transport barges, mobilising silt from the ocean floor and smothering sensitive seagrass beds and degrading water quality, causing drastic effects on fisheries and the local pearl industry.

Require excavation of the inland harbour which may expose acid sulphate soils, contaminating water and land areas and destroying mangrove and algal mat habitat.

Bring massive carriers, barges and service vessels into the area, which are likely to disturb and disrupt local endangered fauna such as Humpback Whales, Dugongs and Sea Turtles. International shipping poses the risk of introducing exotic pests into the pristine environment via ballast discharge.

Take Action: Act now and tell the EPA to reject the Straits Salt Project and protect the Exmouth Gulf | Read your comments

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