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Figure 25: Estuary with negative impacts vs well-managed estuary
from Draft Manning River Catchment and Estuary and Catchment Management Program 2021-2031 - Main document
Figure 25: Estuary with negative impacts vs well-managed estuary
6.2 Community stewardship
“This is a people issue. It’s the responsibility of everyone to respect and understand our river system. A lot of people don’t get the impact of dayto-day decisions. Promote public education and publicise issues affecting the river. Engage with landholders in the catchment to improve decisionmaking.”
Chris Scott, member, Manning River ECMP Reference group
Public participation and stewardship are enshrined in the Coastal Management Act 2016 and features strongly in the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy (MEMS).27
The need to improve community stewardship and land management practices have been highlighted during our consultation. Education and engagement were proposed as management options across almost all of the issues and identified as a high priority by the Manning River ECMP Reference Group. The comment below is typical of the input we received:
Stakeholders called for a cohesive community engagement and education program that fosters understanding, commitment and stewardship to protect the health of the estuary and waterways. Key target audiences will include recreational river users, public and private land managers including new landholders, commercial and lifestyle farmers and the wider community.
A Best Environmental Management Practice framework for the agricultural sector will be a developed to help extension officers provide consistent guidance. Local social research on the motivations and challenges for beef and dairy farmers called for a program which builds on existing catchment management efforts, promotes an integrated suite of practices, and demonstrates a production advantage for farmers. 28
Providing incentives, training and extension advice to develop new concepts and skills; supporting peer-to-peer learning; and negotiating win-win management actions will advance the goals of farmers while influencing culture and practices to improve management of the Manning catchment. The emphasis will be on providing evidence-based guidance that supports land managers to make their own decisions.
Stakeholders: MidCoast Council; Hunter Local Land Services; Midcoast-to-Tops Landcare; industry groups; National Parks and Wildlife Service; local schools; community groups (e.g. Manning River Turtle Conservation Group, OzFish, birding clubs); Manning Regional Art gallery; Libraries.
27 (NSW Marine Estate Management Authority, 2018) 28 (Bullock, 2019)
