I wish to submit my objection to the proposal to establish an abalone land factory farm at Port Stephens. The pristine waters of Port Stephens will obviously be contaminated by this business and must NOT be allowed to be developed.

I personally object to the proposal to establish an abalone land factory farm at Port Stephens as the ecology of this area is sensitive enough, without this type of developing further adding to the fragility of the waters of Port Stephens.

I object to the proposed Abalone Farm development at Pindimar on the grounds that there is potential for pollution of the pristine waters of Port Stephens.
This area is popular with local and international tourists and any activity that puts at risk the resultant economic benefits or threatens the environmental integrity of the region must be approached with caution.
I believe that similar developments in other areas, e.g. Victoria, has resulted in damage to marine life. Effluent discharge close to Wanda and Soldiers Point beaches would be a disaster.

it is hard enough to get a feed of fish in the bay as it is with all the people netting & the marine parks with out adding something else which may impact more on an already stressed waterway. the reports pretty things up very nicely but once it is up & running it will be to late to reverse any damage it may cause to a magic area. please look after the port it has more value as a tourist area than it has as a abalone farm.

09 May 2014

NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure
Development Assessment Systems & Approvals, Planning & Infrastructure
GPO Box 39
Sydney, NSW 2001

Attention: Director, Industry, Key Sites and Social Projects

By Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/page/on-exhibition


RE: Objection to Pindimar Abalone Land Farm ( MP10_0006)
Dear Sir/Madam,
I object to the proposed above Abalone Factory Farm and request that the NSW Planning and Infrastructure Department totally rejects the proposal for the following reasons:


1. Abalone's optimal water temperature habitat is 18-19 degrees Celsius and therefore are not suited to a Pindimar water supply which comes from a shallow estuary, 7 km from the ocean inlet, the site where the Tomaree Point experimental station obtained its water.
(a)At Pindimar, the water is several degrees warmer. Tomaree Point data is not valid for Pindimar.
(b)There are no Atlantic salmon farms in Queensland or barramundi farms in Tasmania precisely because water temperatures have to match species/temperature habitat.
(c)Data from satellite surveys demonstrate mean water temperature (at Corlette, 1km across the bay from the water inlet pipes) in summer months of over 24 degrees Celsius. Due to the shallow draft in Port Stephens there is no temperature stratification - deep and surface water give the same readings.
(d)Despite the tidal nature of the estuary, total turn-around time of water content is two weeks.
(e)A high mortality and stress rate is predictable, with warmer waters breeding infectious diseases for the Abalone.


2. Perkinsus protozoal infection is widely spread along the NSW coast (prompting a ban on abalone fishing from Jervis Bay to Port Stephens by NSW Fisheries). This infection cannot be excluded by inspection of a live animal. Confirmation requires histological examination of a (dead) animal. Collection of "disease-free" wild abalone thus becomes a gamble


3. The proposed farm lies immediately to the East of the Pindimar Marine sanctuary. Incoming tides will obviously wash out-flowing water from the tanks and their contents into the sanctuary twice daily with potential disastrous affects on the sanctuary.


4. Closed loops (whereby the abalone tank output is not returned to the sea) are mandatory in Tasmania and specified by NSW Dept of Fisheries. In contradistinction, this proposal is entirely open, returning 50 Ml of partially treated water to the estuary daily


5. No amount of meshing or filtration will prevent egress of a virus such as ganglioneurits. This is not known/recognised in NSW waters but the same was true in Victoria where its later incubation and emergence from abalone farms resulted in near-total destruction of wild abalone - this has subsequently spread over 100km from its points of release.

6. All Abalone farms so far are only in open water locations. Discharge in enclosed waters like our Port Stephens could have vast and unforeseen consequences. Imagine the impact on the tourist industry should discharge adversely affect our Port's Dolphin and fish life populations

7. The same (as in above point 6) can be said of potential impacts to commercial fishing in Port Stephens with potential consequences to the industry destroying he commercial fishing habitat.

8. During seasons of very heavy rain the Myall Lakes drain large amounts of fresh water into Port Stephens reducing the salinity of the bay for weeks to such a degree that the water is almost completely fresh right up to Pindimar. What will happen to Abalone when exposed to fresh water. This occurred several times over the last few years and all oyster farms were closed for months as a result.

9. Likelihood of failure must be considered as a strong possibility on both biological (temperature) and financial grounds. Profitability has been calculated as requiring minimal 100 tons output and this calculation was made when the price of abalone was considerably higher than at present. No information is provided as to who will provide the funds for any clean-up which could be required should the project fail as a result of failure.


10.The Victorian Government has recently been sued by those whose business have been destroyed by the contamination and destruction of wild abalone from discharge of ganglioneuritis from Government-approved abalone farms. Does the NSW Government wish to take this risk?





Yours faithfully,





Philip Dowling

NO. We don' want or need an abalone land factory at Pindima!
Any sensible person would say "NO!" to having the pristine waters of our beautiful Port Stephens put at risk of pollution.
We don't want another environmental disaster!

I am extremely concerned that this proposal, in a slightly altered and enlarged form, has reappears after 9 years when the original proposal was withdrawn by the proponent and many inadequacies were found and not properly addressed in that original submission.
I am concerned that with the watering down of the state planning laws that all the issues that need to be addressed regarding the environment and local amenity will not get an adequate hearing.
It is not worth permanently damaging a fragile marine environment for the sake of a few jobs. Please consider the long term consequences of this proposal, and the potential precedent it sets.

I live close by the site in our quiet rural village, and I am appalled at the prospect of a large land based Abalone Factory/Farm (with its attendant traffic movements) pumping 50 mega litres of our ports water each day in and out of the factory. How can this huge transfer of water be monitored satisfactorily (deep in the bay) for effluent and bi-catch content?
Surely your responsibility for duty of care could not allow this to happen. I have followed press reports of similar Abalone Farms in Victoria and South Australia suffering viral diseases that are unable to be controlled or cured. Our Port is NOT THE PLACE FOR THIS RISKY BUSINESS TO OCCUR. I have no objection against Aqua Culture, but surely this Abalone Venture should be sited on the ocean shores where abalone thrive naturally and not sited in this or any other estuary.
Are there any other industries able to discharge any waste into any water ways that are not heavily monitored?
The noise factor also is also of great concern to this objector. Our village happily has only to contend with the sounds of nature. Why should this change?

I oppose the development because of the potential for something to go wrong and the possible cost to the environment if that were to happen. The Myall Lakes/Port Stephens/Foster Lqkes area is a NSW jewel. Its beauty and wildlife attracts thousands and thousands of visitors every year. Anything that jeopardises this is unacceptable.
Abalone farms in Australia have a recent history of going wrong. I am not a scientist and I can't comment on the science in the reports being provided. But where there are current examples that such farms have failed then I think there is clear evidence of the risk and potential cost.
I prefer development that enhances the assets of the area. For example I understand that the sea grasses from this area attract some fairly unique fauna. A development that somehow built on that might be lower impact and sustainable while still creating local employment opportunities.

Development Assessment Systems & Approvals, Planning & Infrastructure, GPO Box 39 Sydney, NSW 2001.

Attention: Director, Industry, Key Sites and Social Projects.


The Pindimar Abalone Farm project, now on exhibition, does not show any pictures of any actual abalone farms, only diagrams. In reality, the existing abalone farms are extremely unattractive, often smelly, and quite noisy from the large pumps going 24 hours a day. The sites are usually strewn with various kind of cleaning, filtering and other kinds of industrial machines.

Other Australian abalone farms are situated far from residential communities; this proposed site is very close to South Pindimar. It is also near to a thriving tourism industry which would not be enhanced by heavy industry. The proposal states that the plant would be hidden by foreshore vegetation but recent erosion and mangrove death from new sand deposition is denuding the foreshore.

We object to this proposal because this is the wrong place to put an ugly heavy industrial complex in the centre of a beautiful, unspoiled, ecologically fragile place that is also near a quiet rural community.