Coastal Management

MANNING CATCHMENT SEPP (COASTAL MANAGEMENT) 2018

Figure 3 Manning Catchment SEPP 2018 (Coastal Management)

1.3.2 The Manning River ECMP Management Areas

Within the Planning Area for the Manning River ECMP, there are six Management Areas; four from the Coastal Management SEPP (see Figure 3) and two which we added to ensure the high-risk acid sulfate soils of the floodplain are appropriately managed and diffuse-source run-off and other stressors from the freshwater catchment are addressed. These are:

Coastal wetlands and littoral rainforest areas

(CWLRA) – Coastal wetlands play a crucial role in attenuating pollutants, storing carbon, providing habitat for fish and shorebirds and mitigating the impact of flood on the estuary. There are significant areas of coastal wetland covered by the Manning River ECMP, including Big Swamp, Cattai Wetlands, Crowdy Lagoon, Dawson Wetlands and Coopernook Wetlands.

There are no areas of littoral rainforest within our Planning Area. Coastal Environment Area (CEA) – The CEA for the Manning River ECMP covers estuarine waters from the tidal limit at Abbotts Falls upstream of Wingham to the edge of our Planning Area, 2 km inland from the dual entrances at Harrington and Farquhar Inlets. The estuary is shown in Figure 4.

Coastal Use Area (CUA) – this is land adjacent to the estuary, where urban coastal development may be found, such as the estuarine foreshores of Wingham, Taree and Cundletown. The Coastal Use Area was mapped in the MidCoast LGA as a 500 metres landward extent from the open ocean boundary and a 250 metres landward extent from the boundaries of estuaries.

Coastal vulnerability Area (CVA) – these are areas subject to seven coastal hazards defined by the CM Act: beach erosion, shoreline recession, entrance instability, coastal inundation, coastal cliff or slope instability, tidal inundation, erosion and inundation of foreshores caused by tidal waters and wave action. The Coastal Vulnerability Area has not yet been mapped for the Manning Planning Area. Council uses coastal hazard lines, foreshore set-backs and flood zones to control development in areas subject to hazards. Within the Manning River ECMP Planning Area there is a coastal setback line on the foreshore in Cundletown (Figure 5). The Manning Estuary Floodplain – The Manning River spills onto a vast, low-lying floodplain area downstream of Taree. It is 2,060 km2 in size and includes the catchments of Dingo Creek and the Lansdowne River. The floodplain is elevated to less than 2m AHD and in some places is below sea-level. It has a history of dairy farming with some townships and rural dwellings. There are extensive coastal wetlands and acid sulfate soils. The Manning River Catchment – The Manning River originates at 1,570m above sea level in the Gondwana World Heritage Area of the Barrington Tops and flows 261 km to the Tasman Sea. Its vast catchment covers approximately 8,420 km2 with 16 major tributaries. Of these the Gloucester River, Barnard River and Nowendoc River join the Manning upstream of Mount George, with their catchments contributing 1,930 km2, 1,830 km2 and 1,650 km2 respectively to the total Manning River catchment area (Figure 6).