Gladstone harbour - the truth and the pain to bring it to light

Truth never lost ground by enquiry. - WILLIAM PENN, Some Fruits of Solitude

 

Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. - GEORGE WASHINGTON

Photo by John Mikkelsen

Finally the truth has come out in the major metropolitan newspapers about what has been killing marine life in Gladstone harbour. To be fair the situation wasn’t helped by the Gladstone Port Corporation (GPC) withholding reports from public examination for over two years. The local newspaper, the Gladstone Observer, has finally reported the news instead of printing the version presented by the GPC without too much outside inquiry. The full page advertising by GPC at the time may have been co-incidental.  

The enquiry for truth has largely been pursued in the alternative media on blog sites. The most prolific writer about the disaster besetting Gladstone harbour is John Mikkelsen or Mikko to his online friends, a semi-retired journalist living at the time at Tannum Sands who could see first-hand the fish deaths, could talk to the local fishermen and the scientists who came to investigate.

John Mikkelsen in his latest blog post, Gladstone Harbour- dredging up what went wrong, writes of the “latest of the belated reports emerging showing how environmental breaches went unreported in Gladstone Harbour;” referring to Tony Moore’s December 20th Brisbane Times newspaper article, Gladstone Harbour bund wall failures explained.

The Australian in the November 18^th issue carried the article, Fish fears rise over LNG port dredging, revealing how GPC withheld reports for more than two years containing evidence contrary to the GPC claim that the problems were all caused by a flood in 2011, a scenario that as time went on became increasingly apparent to be unlikely.  The author of this article in the Australian is the Environment editor, Graham Lloyd who has since followed up with two more articles, Bad build blamed for fish deaths and Gladstone port plea to stem toxic leak.



 

Photo Brisbane Times

The evidence now available supports what John Mikkelsen has been writing since September 2011. His articles were published in two of Australia’s largest blog sites, Something’s really fishy in the Gladstone waters at The Punch on October 2011 and then on the 26^th at ABC’s Unleashed, Gladstone fish can't read.

But the enquiry into truth was not without cost, on October 17^th 2011 Mikko who several years previously had held the position of editor of the Gladstone Observer wrote:

“”Yesterday I watched a convoy of tugs towing barges loaded with dredging spoil past Tannum Sands to the dumping grounds in open waters just outside the entrance to Gladstone Harbour, the scene of widespread controversy surrounding continuing catches of sick fish and dead marine animals.

On Wild Cattle Island, a national park just south of Tannum beach, I saw the carcass of another dead adult turtle washed up at low tide, the latest in more than 200 strandings.

In the past week, local media outlets have all run full-page advertisements from the Gladstone Ports Corporation stating “Water quality in Gladstone Harbour is OK”. Tell that to the fish.

Meanwhile, for almost five years I have been writing a weekly column, ‘What Goes Around’ in The Gladstone Observer. For the past month, I have focussed on the harbour controversy but it has now been axed because of “budget restrictions”. All online comments to articles relating to the harbour and diseased fish were removed just over a week ago and since then new articles have not allowed online comment.

All that could be coincidental and I am not suggesting otherwise, just presenting the circumstances. My last article, published in today’s Observer (October 17)”

The above quote was published at a community blog site that no longer deserves to be named. This article attracted several thousand views to the ongoing comments that kept people up to date to the unfolding situation at Gladstone harbour. Most of these views would have been from people keeping themselves informed rather than those actually commenting.  Unfortunally the article also attracted a couple of people with the zealous desire to discredit the evidence being presented and although living far away from Gladstone were very persistent in harassment often using cherry picked Google searches. The article was deleted in November 2012 because of the abuse of trust that the community placed in one person to hold the site’s password; it was deleted for no other reason than this person choose at the time to disagree with it.

The original post was copied and is available at the pindanpost blog site. Many pages of updated comments, including informed scientific commentary, are lost.   

It appeared that the motivation to persistently harass the events at Gladstone harbour to be reported and commented upon was that environmental groups had subsequently become active about the issue and that if the ‘greenies’ were making statements they had to be automatically wrong. While it is certainly easy to find many examples of the extreme end of the environmental movement in their ‘the end justifies the means’ approach using alarmism, misinformation and even sabotage, it is simplistic to assume that everyone interested in environmental issues are of bad character with incorrect information. Whenever in this harassment it was pointed out the greenies were involved with Gladstone harbour, Mikko would patiently reply that “even a broken clock is right twice a day.”    

Social media can be and is being used for good; the enquiry into the truth about Gladstone harbour would not have proceeded without the use of blog sites. However it also provides a soap box for those that society would not have otherwise have provided for some people. It brings out the ‘haters’ from both the politically left and the right. It provides the opportunity for you to hear the viewpoint that you want to hear and to attack every view expressed by other sources that have been pigeon holed as wrong. Social media provides the opportunity for those that wish to rant, engage in absolutes and abuse just as it can provide the opportunity for enquiry, positive engagement and thoughtfulness. 



Photo sourced -

Science panellooks at water, not sick fish

 Those of us who are politically conservative and are interested in a balance of conservation with economic development and community values should stand strong against the attacks of some on the left who believe that the only legitimate comment on environmental issues is owned by them. Also those of us you are politically conservative and are interested into the enquiry into the truth of a situation should resist the weakness that requires one to retreat to known absolutes and not allow new events to challenge one’s thinking. Sometime there are circumstances where you end up on a parallel course to others that are normally in opposition; it appears that some are so insecure in their own convictions that they create an artificial world of “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”.

 

 

Congratulations Mikko for the truth belatedly being reported in the major metropolitan main stream media. You have stuck to your guns; the truth has ultimately prevailed thanks to the pains you took to bring it to light. The pursuit may have not been without pain; there are a few people that owe you an apology.

The event of November 2012 was the catalyst for the beginning of this blog site and below is the list of the posts published by John Mikkelsen about the Gladstone Harbour

Turtle, dugong deaths 'directly linked to dredging'

Did the floods two years ago cause this?

 

Gladstone fishers unimpressed by compensation offer

Dredging resumed at the height of Gladstone's record flood

Gladstone Ports Corporation swimming in sea of controversy

Gladstone Ports Corp should stick with coal, not seafood marketing

Science panel looks at water, not sick fish

Resource consultants 'like supermodels who won't get up for less than $5000 a day'

Photo sourced from,

Bacterial infection ‘linked to dredging’

Call to halt Gladstone port development proposals

UNESCO's latest warning on threats to Great Barrier Reef

Bacterial infection ‘linked to dredging’

Fishers' lucky to have survived toxic algae'

‘Mining captures politics’ – author claims

Author calls for Royal Commission into 'political capture by mining'

 

Gladstone Harbour- dredging up what went wrong

 

UPDATE #1

May 9 2014

The independent report to federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt was released on and it reveals that there was an obvious determined attempt to cover up the whole devastating effects of the dredging and leaking bund wall, coinciding with the fish disease and toxic algae outbreaks.

Bad build and oversight failure at Gladstone gas hub.

.

Fishers 'lucky to have survived toxic algae'

(Second in a series on evidence to a Senate select committee as published in the Queensland Telegraph

http://www.queenslandtelegraph.com/fishers-lucky-to-have-survived-toxic-algae/

http://www.queenslandtelegraph.com/bacterial-infection-linked-to-dredging/

Looking up Gladstone Harbour towards The Narrows with Curtis Island towards the top of picture.

By John Mikkelsen

EVIDENCE that two Gladstone fishers were lucky to have survived an encounter with toxic algae, was presented to a Senate committee hearing into a proposed new bill to halt development  in environmentally sensitive Reef waters. 

Serious  health concerns had coincided with the outbreak of disease in fish and other marine life claimed to be associated with the massive dredging project in Gladstone Harbour, the committee heard.

The Telegraph last week reported the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee had been told of a ‘cluster’ of  rare bacterial infections, by environmental medicine specialist Dr Andrew Jeremijenko.

Evidence was given later of other fishermen who were hospitalized, “two by ambulance,on morphine drips, who were lucky to have survived”.

Replying to a question from committee chair, Sen Doug Cameron, aquatic disease vetinarian Dr Matt Landos, said he was aware of the shewanella bacteria referred to previously by Dr Jeremijenko. He said there were two human health concerns that had arisen from the harbour development process.

“ Around 50 people became ill in a very short time which coincided with all the animals in the harbour becoming ill and dying.

“There were two things that happened. They started dredging without any

sediment control before re-suspension. It is possible, when you dredge, to minimise how far all of that sediment that you stir up goes. It is like putting a blender into the bottom, and you can either put a net around your blender and hold all the suspended sediment in, or you can just let it run with the tide.

“In Gladstone, they just let it run with the tide. Unfortunately, the tides are four metres and they run at four or five knots. So the satellite images show we have a 34 kilometre dredge plume of uncontrolled, re-suspended, toxic sediment going throughout the harbour. 

“Harbour sediments contain nutrient, so what we have done is fertilise the harbour.” This generated more bacteria and toxic algal blooms. The toxic algal bloom appeared to have been the reason why the harbour was shut to all fishing at that time.

“Several of the fishermen were hospitalised and, as a result of the advice I gave them, through to their GP, they identified that algal toxins were being inhaled off their nets.

“Two of those people had to be immediately taken to hospital by ambulance on morphine drips and are lucky to have survived.

“The reason the algal bloom happened was not natural. It was driven by the increased flux of nutrient from uncontrolled re-suspension. It was not just chance that it happened when it did.

“It also drove these infections with Shewanella that Andrew Jeremijenko spoke about.

“Some of those people are still sick and have lost the use of limbs as a result of these

infections,” Dr Landos said.

Sen Cameron:  “Are you aware of any action by the Queensland health authorities on this?

Dr Landos:  “No, their action has been largely to suggest that there is no problem with eating the fish, there is  no problem with eating the crabs and the water is fine. They have supported, with Gladstone Ports Corporation, sponsoring a $1.2 million media program locally to say, 'The water's fine, go out and use the harbour; everything's

great.'

He said the idea that all the problems were caused by a flood was “somewhat fanciful”.

The problem with approval of projects like Gladstone’s and  other ports projects now in the pipeline, was that there were ‘multiple beneficiaries’ including government.

“With the government then managing the project, we have an issue with the independence of management; and, with the proponent running the science program, we have an issue with the management of the science,” Dr Landos said.

A four metre tiger shark washed up on Tannum Beach, January 2011. Dredging started in September- October 2010.

Serious health concerns over Gladstone oysters

By John Mikkelsen – Saturday 19th January, 2012

IGNORANCE is said to be bliss, but  medical and science experts have pointed out it could have serious consequences when it comes to contaminated seafood, including oysters.

Gladstone residents and tourists remain largely unaware of dangers from potentially contaminated oysters and shellfish following toxic algae blooms and the presence of heavy metals detected last year. However, in NSW authorities were quick to issue an official warning about contaminated Sydney oysters in the lead up to the Christmas holidays..

Toxic lyngbya majuscula algae was positively identified in Gladstone Harbour last year following the hospitalisation of two Turkey Beach fishers, and poisonous diatoms, another form of marine algae, were also detected, but no health warnings were issued.

The risks of consuming possibly contaminated local shellfish including oysters were recently highlighted by aquatic disease specialist Dr Matt Landos following extensive research in Gladstone waters.

Dr Landos told the Queensland Telegraph that shellfish populations exposed to the increased sediment load generated by dredging were likely to have been significantly impacted.

“The timing of mortality of oysters (and other aquatic biota) suggests that sediment re-suspension and associated increased metal exposures from the dredging and disposal project has contributed to oyster mortalities.

“Rio Tinto hired a private ecotoxicology firm to undertake oyster testing in Gladstone harbour in 2012, but the results which were very clearly not good for the oysters remained suppressed,” Dr Landos claimed.

He explained that oysters are routinely used to assess toxicity of water and as “sentinels for accumulation of metals”.

While Queensland health authorities have failed to act, their NSW counterparts issued an immediate health alert  following the discovery of contaminated oysters in Botany Bay after the toxic algae outbreak there.

They warned against eating oysters, clam, crabs and abalone, and an environmental medicine specialist, Dr Andrew Jeremijenko, believes similar warnings should have been issued previously at Gladstone.

 Dr Jeremijenko has also called for the monitoring of oysters in Gladstone waters following the continuing controversy over the health of local seafood and other marine animals.

Dredging has been blamed as the most likely cause of the fish disease by Dr Landos, but this has been denied by Gladstone Ports Corporation and Fisheries Queensland which both blame the floods two years ago.

Dr Jeremijenko also believes the dredging and the disturbance of toxic compounds in the silt is responsible, and he has also warned that extreme cases of toxic algae poisoning could result in human fatality.

He told The Telegraph yesterday that monitoring should be conducted for dangerous algae, including the type which produces paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) as found in Botany Bay.

“There should be a program of monitoring the Gladstone oysters for toxins such as heavy metals and PSP toxins, but currently this is either not being done or the data is not being made public.

“ In Gladstone Harbour, despite far greater environmental pollution and industrial activity than Botany Bay, there are no warnings about the oysters and whether they are safe to eat.

“What we now know is that an independent scientist has found them to be affected.

“ Gladstone harbour has had multiple toxic algal blooms associated with high turbidity and high nutrient levels, but the algae associated with these blooms has not always been identified.

 “PSP can be fatal in extreme cases and children are more susceptible.

“Despite destruction of oyster habitat, diseased oyster shells and collapse of stock, the State’s willingness to monitor and protect the oysters in the harbour, and the people that eat them, is lacking”.

Dr Jeremijenko said another study in Gladstone Harbour a decade ago during a previous dredging program had also found that oysters were taking up toxins such as heavy metals, arsenic and aluminium and “the closer to the dredging, the worse it was”.

“The authorities should be lobbied now to take appropriate measurements and do this as part of the UNESCO- recommended Gladstone Enquiry,” he said.