Why Seal Rocks ?
By Jason McGilvray
Boat Beach is a family beach. Safe. Calm. Peaceful.
Safe to say it was the first beach Mum took me to as a toddler and it’s the first beach my sister’s young kids built a sandcastle on.
Whether it be walking from one end to the other, throwing a frisbee or jumping the small waves with your children, Boat Beach has always been the place you go to with family in the knowledge that it is safe and quiet.
While the other Seal Rocks beaches are better known for surfing, Boat Beach attracts many other water sports lovers including ocean swimmers, kayakers, paddle boarders, snorklers and scuba divers thanks to its calmer nature.
Another, much ‘louder’ activity may soon compete with these beach goers after Great Lakes Council recently approved an application, subject to compliance with several conditions, by Parasailing Tours to conduct some of its operations off Boat Beach, despite receiving 27 submissions regarding it including one from the Seal Rocks Protection Society.
In July the Secretary wrote to Great Lakes Council on behalf of the Seal Rocks Protection Society objecting to the Parasailing Tours application on the basis that it is an inappropriate use of Boat Beach and the waters off it.
The objection highlighted that the Parasailing Tours operation would mean greater noise in the normally peaceful Boat Beach vicinity and more equipment associated with the business on the beach.
“If it is operated in the near vicinity it would quickly become unbearable,” the letter noted.
It also said that parasailing is a “very visible sport and that if parasailing were to take place on a regular basis anywhere in Sugarloaf Bay then it would be an unacceptable visual intrusion into what are some of the most cherished and pristine views on the NSW coast”.
Other arguments against the application included in the letter were limited parking on Kinka Rd, no permanent public toilets adjacent to Boat Beach and the fact that medical attention is not immediately available in Seal Rocks.
A report considered at Great Lakes Council’s ordinary meeting on October 27th recommended the refusal of the Parasailing Tours application however councillors resolved that another report be prepared for the Strategic Committee Meeting on November 10th that provided conditions of consent that would allow consideration of the application.
Approval granted by Great Lakes Council at the Strategic Meeting on November 10th only relates to on-shore activities, not activities off-shore.
The on-shore activities approval granted for Boat Beach by Great Lakes Council is subject to compliance with 5 conditions including:
Not installing/erecting structures or signage
The activity of unloading/loading customers at Boat Beach is not to interfere with other activities at the beach
The period of loading/unloading customers safely at the beach is to be minimised.
According to the original report considered by Council on October 27th, only pre-arranged tours will operate from Boat Beach with customers picked up from the sand and ferried by small tender to a boat in deeper water then returned to the beach in the same way.
Great Lakes Council have also granted approval, subject to compliance with conditions, to Parasailing Tours to conduct operations from John Holland Park in Forster and Pacific Palms Foreshore Reserve & Jetty.
However it is the Boat Beach location that has the community most concerned.
“It is not simply a clear stretch of water suitable for exploitation by every special interest water sport that comes along,” the Society’s objection noted.