What is a Coastal Management Program?

Our waterways help our community thrive. They support our wellbeing, culture and local economy through farming, oyster growing, tourism, recreation and fishing. We are committed to protecting them for future generations.

The Southern Estuaries Coastal Management Program is a 10-year plan to care for and protect our lakes, lagoons and rivers from Wallabi Point to the Karuah River. The program help us to identify, understand, prepare for and respond to the current and emerging risk impacting estuarine environments.

The CMP has been developed with the community at stakeholder workshops, reference group meetings, working groups, community events, and pop-ups to make sure that the program best meets the needs of the local community.

Note: Council is not obligated to deliver the actions identified in the CMP if anticipated funding is not available.

The Southern Estuaries Coastal Management Program (SECMP) was on public exhibition from Friday 27 February to Thursday 9 April 2026. During this time, 23 submissions were received with 17 submissions through the Have Your Say page and 6 submissions from agency partners. Overall, the submissions were supportive of the actions proposed in the Southern Estuaries Costal Management Program.

Of the 17 submissions received, nine were unrelated to the SECMP. The other submissions covered a range of themes including:

• Increased boat speeds in estuaries
• Dredging in Wallis Lake and Myall River estuaries
• Changes in sedimentation
• Managing root causes of foreshore erosion
• Wetland management
• Prioritising protection and restoration of natural areas
• Entrapment of wildlife in fishing rubbish
• Research and monitoring on sediment processes
• Community consultation
• Funding arrangements

Other feedback included comments on Councils’ operations, raised questions about the actions and offered advice on how to implement actions

Overall, changes made to the program after public exhibition were minimal. None of the amendments altered the intent of the identified actions, they only improved them.

A summary of the Councils responses to the main themes heard through community feedback can be found below.

• No change was made to the program about boat speeds as Transport for NSW (TfNSW) are the responsible authority for boat speeds. Therevision of speed limits was considered by TfNSW during stage 3 of the SECMP development but was not supported.
• No changes were made to the program regarding dredging in Wallis andMyall River estuaries. Council is not responsible for dredging. TfNSW holds overarching responsibility for the safety of navigation on NSW waterways. Historically, Council has partnered with TfNSW to act as a delivery partner for dredging at Tuncurry and the lower Myall River. Council has passed community feedback on to TfNSW for their consideration.
• No changes were made to the program about changes in sedimentation.Several sites mentioned in submissions were outside of the SECMP study area and are within the MidCoast Council Open Coast CMP or Port Stephens CMP. These submissions have been passed on for consideration.
• No changes have been made regarding managing root causes offoreshore erosion. The program already deals with shoreline change through existing actions and frameworks. The root cause of erosion in the Wallamba River was addressed in 2003 through the Wallamba River Memorandum of Understanding which included voluntary reduction in the area for skiing and wake boarding from 16km to 9km of river. Council and its partners invested in bank protection along the 9km stretch of river to reduce erosion of the riverbanks. To date, 90% of the river impacted by active erosion has been restored with rock fillets and revegetation.
• Administrative changes to the document were made in response tosubmissions regarding wetland management including the Restoration Plan for the Southern Wallis Lake Foreshore Reserve as a contributing document. An amendment has been made to action T5.03 action map title. An amendment to action T6.01 action map figure legend.
• Prioritising protection and restoration of natural assets changes to theprogram include an update to Table 2-1, p30 which has been amended to correct the areas of saltmarsh and mangrove.
• No changes were made to the program regarding entrapment of wildlife in rubbish as there are already a number of actions that focus on protecting wildlife from discarded fishing rubbish.
• No changes were made in relation to research and monitoring on sediment processes. There is sufficient understanding of the sediment transport system to plan and undertake management actions, and it is acknowledged that more detailed monitoring could be beneficial and interesting, it would not materially change the outcomes of current management.
• No changes were made to the program in relation to submissions about community consultation. Extensive community consultation has taken place throughout the development of the Coastal Management Program. The community has had multiple opportunities to get involved. Surveys were available during stages one and three, and formal submissions were invited during stage four.
• A few changes were made in response to funding arrangements. Action T6.08 was updated to include Marine Estate Management Strategy funding as a possible funding source. Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development Fisheries was removed as a potential funding source for a number of actions.
• A few other minor changes were made to the document based on other feedback.
• Further details of document changes can be read in the ‘change register’ in the documents section.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through its Coast and Estuary Program.