To help maintain a viable fishing industry and protect the local environment, while improving visitor access to the East Coast Beach on Christmas Island, was quite a task.
Christmas Island Shire CEO, Gary Dunt, said the East Coast Beaches Management Plan (ECBMP) had delivered a lot to the community. The plan centred around the building of stairs and a boat ramp to improve access to the beach for both people and boats.
The ramp uses new methods in boardwalk construction in how it is attached to the limestone pinnacles. Adhering to the limestone is an engineering challenge but using a mixture of cement allowed the extended boat ramp to be set solid. The works followed the sealing of the road three years ago which opened up the beach to more than four wheel drive traffic. The improved access led to calls for a better beach management.
On Lily Beach, an old gazebo was pulled down and two new ones along with some wooden tables were erected some distance back from the beach. The gazebos now have solar powered lighting, as does the boat ramp. Wooden bollards have also been installed to stop car access to the beach.
Gary Dunt said that the project has met community, tourist and fishing needs.
A partnership approach was taken in the design and planning phase to ensure the project would not hurt the environment, in particular Christmas Island’s famous roaming crab population. The migration of 50–60 million crabs each year during the ‘wet’ required special positioning of car parking and the boat ramp which can be closed during the peak of the migration.
The project was awarded the rural winner of the Infrastructure Development Category of the 2003 National Awards for Local Government.
For more details contact Gary Dunt on (08) 9164 8300.
