Bowen’s coastal wind farm leaves industry player in tears: ‘It’s worrying’

Mark Horne has been a commercial fisherman in the Illawarra region for almost 25 years.

His business, Lobfish, farms and provides eastern rock lobsters to Sydney restaurants as well as local businesses.

Mr Horne held back tears as he spoke about his uncertainty on the viability of his business.

“You can see how emotional I am, we are hoping for the best but when they won’t consult with us and tell us the risks, the real risks that are involved, it’s worrying,” he said.

Last month, Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen officially declared an area off the Illawarra coast to be the fourth of Australia’s offshore wind zones.

The zone, spanning 1,022 square kilometres, from Wombarra to Kiama, could house up to 200 wind turbines, each at a height of about 260 metres.

The government claims a potential project could generate an estimated 2.9 gigawatts of electricity or enough to power 1.8 million homes.

The government also suggested an offshore wind farm could provide 1,740 jobs during construction and 870 ongoing jobs thereafter. Due to community feedback, the size of the declared offshore wind zone has been reduced by about a third from 1,461 square kilometres initially proposed.

It is also now proposing a future project would sit 20 kilometres off the coast as opposed to 10 kilometres.

Speaking from the Port Kembla Steelworks, Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the change would “ensure that that visual amenity is protected”.

The Minister also called out what he termed “misinformation” about the impact offshore wind farms could have on fishing in the region.

He confirmed that fishing will be permitted within the declared zone.

“There will be exclusion zones around each turbine, small exclusion zones of about 50m. The turbines are usually around two kilometres apart. Within that, people can fish, can go about their recreational fishing as they wish,” Mr Bowen said.

Managing Director and Owner of Better Choice Fisheries Frank Musumeci, who is a third-generation commercial fisherman, says he wants more information about how the technology would impact the ecosystem, fearing it could “stunt growth” of fish.

“…As a major stakeholder, we really haven’t been given the time of day by the government so that’s been really disappointing,” he said.

“I know the community is horrified by what’s been declared and what’s on the table. I think it’s being done very quickly and done without really understanding the space.”

President of the Shellharbour Game Fishing Club Jay McIlquham is also concerned about the impact on recreational fishing.

“I spent 40 years on the water, my dad was a professional fisherman, this just doesn’t make sense, it’s crackers, it really is,” he said.

Mr McIlquham says the eastern Australia current is a major thoroughfare for travelling fish that come from the top of the Great Barrier Reef.

“So as for implications on them, it’s unknown but I can’t see it being good, it’s definitely going to have an effect.”

Volunteer for the pro-renewables group Good for the Gong Sophia Walter takes a different view and believes the impact of offshore wind on recreational fishing would be positive.

“I do think it is important that people whose businesses are impacted by this, for example commercial fishermen, get compensated. I think that’s really important but the opportunities for recreational fishers I think are huge,” she said.

The Illawarra offshore wind zone overlaps the Labor-held federal electorates of Cunningham, Whitlam and marginally Gilmore.

Gilmore is held by Labor on just 0.2 per cent.

Liberal candidate for Gilmore and former NSW government minister Andrew Constance has been fiercely campaigning on the issue.

“When you have structures almost the height of Centrepoint tower floating off the magnificent communities like Kiama, they will be highly visible,” Mr Constance said.

“Bowen’s legacy here will be one which is of a white elephant economically, an appalling impact in terms of its visual impact and an unknown quantity when it comes to the environment.”

The coalition has promised to stop wind farms being built off the coast of NSW if elected.

The proposal for offshore wind off the Illawarra coast has prompted protests and divided communities.

Some have cited concerns for the impact on fishing and wildlife including whales and seabirds as well as the visual impact.

“Not everyone’s going to be happy. Guess what? When you’re the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, you work out pretty quickly that that’s pretty much the case across the board”, Mr Bowen said.

The federal government is now welcoming licence proposals.

Now that the zone has been declared, Mr Bowen is “identifying where more environmental assessments and investigations are needed to inform future development options”, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Mr Bowen has said turbines wouldn’t be up and running in the Illawarra until at least 2030.