Landlocked jetty keeps fishers high and dry

Like a viewing platform in the middle of a beach. 

That's how lobster fisherman Greg Horsman describes the wooden fishing jetty at his hometown of Port Gregory on the West Australian mid-north coast. 

Key points:

A build-up of sand around the Port Gregory jetty has made it inaccessible

Fishermen say they've been asking for help to move the sand for 10 years 

The state's Transport Minister says she will visit the area to see the jetty

Built in 1980, the jetty provided lobster fishers, yachts and tourists with a safe place to secure their boats, but a build up of sand over the years has rendered it inaccessible to watercraft.

The eight or so lobster boats based out of Port Gregory, north of Geraldton, are now forced to moor offshore and ferry their catch and bait to and from shore via dinghies.  

Fishers like Mr Horsman and Colin Suckling have been in a 10-year battle to get the state government to help move the sand. 

"It adds a lot of double or triple handling of product, a lot more physically lifting for the crew and ourselves," Mr Suckling said. 

"As one would say in colloquial terms, we're back in the Dark Ages in the cave."

It is a labour-intensive, expensive and sometimes dangerous exercise. 

Lobsters can lose quality when exposed to the elements; Mr Suckling estimated between 1 and 3 per cent of his catch was downgraded due to damage when transporting full pots from his fishing boat to shore. 

"When you start losing $10 or $15 or $20 a kilo of your product, that's when it really hurts," he said. 

Fishers are appealing for the state government to help with their landlocked jetty.(ABC Rural: Jo Prendergast)

Mr Horsman said he wanted to see the sand around the jetty removed.

"I realise it possibly will fill in again, but at least if we dig it out â€" that's possibly the cheapest way to do it â€" we'll know what sort of a timeframe we're looking at for maintenance." 

Missed opportunities 

The jetty is not far from the world-famous Port Gregory pink lake. 

The fishermen said the region was missing out on further tourism opportunities of visitors being able to fish off the jetty or buy lobsters off the back of boats. 

"We really need the Minister for Transport to come out and say, 'Right, we need this to get done'," Mr Suckling said.  

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The government funds regular maintenance dredging at Kalbarri, north of Port Gregory. 

Last month, Nationals MP Shane Love presented a grievance in parliament to the Minister for Ports and Transport, Rita Saffioti, calling for the jetty to be fixed. 

The Minister committed to visiting the area and seeing the jetty, but did not commit funding to fix it. 

In a written statement, Ms Saffioti said ongoing studies showed the sediment build up was not stopping. 

"Given the uncertainty around future sediment build-up and variable local weather patterns, the Department of Transport will continue to monitor coastal processes in the area to determine whether long-term interventions become viable," she said. 

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