Triabunna in transition October 2006 A mountain of woodchips at the Triabunna wood-chip mill rises steadily in proportion to world market disinclination to buy the Tasmanian product which is considered to be too expensive. Most of Tasmania’s 340 log contractors are now operating at less than half their recent capacity and Triabunna is starting to feel a little depressed. Logging employees put lots of wage dollars into the shops, pubs and businesses of Triabunna, Orford and Swansea. Whatley Haulage, Triabunna, one of the state’s biggest logging employers, has cut the number of trucks it runs from 24 to 14 and reduced the number of its workers employed in the forests from 35 to 22. “We’re selling our trucks to buyers on the mainland,” John Whatley said. “Recently our 50,000 tonne contract with Gunns was cancelled. Glamorgan Spring Bay Council’s Development Manager David Masters said recently that it is not as if uncertainty over the mill’s future is new for Triabunna. “When the chip mill first opened in 1970, it was only supposed to be a 15-year operation before a pulp mill was built,” Mr Masters said. “As a consequence, many of the mill workers and related businesses in Triabunna had already started to look at alternative business opportunities, even before the current slump hit. “I’d say rather than being depressed Triabunna is a town in transition. “It has missed out on the seachange of Coles Bay and the retirement influx of Swansea but now Triabunna is very seriously looking at tourism itself, especially as the mill downsizes.” The $150 million Solis real estate and golf course development at Louisville overlooking Spring Bay and Orford is a case in point. Approximately 550 residential and holiday homes and golf course are planned for construction at Solis which will dwarf the existing combined Triabunna and Orford population of about 1500. Another key development is the $25 million marina now underway in Spring Bay with 30 or more two-storey apartments with their own jetties. A consortium of businessmen is developing the Triabunna marina which, Mr Masters hopes, will stimulate the development of satellite tourism and leisure activities in the region.

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Scallop season bad news October 2006 The scallop fishing season was going so badly for fishermen working out of Triabunna that they called in the media to complain about the adverse conditions which they claimed were created by State Government ineptitude and which, they said, was the cause of all their woes. Last week a complete about face saw a celebration at the Tandara Hotel of ‘the best scallop season ever’ and a certificate of appreciation being handed to David Llewellyn, Minister for Primary Industries, Environment and Fisheries by the President of the Scallop Fishermens Association, John Hammond. “A twenty year old marine environmental disaster of Chernobyl proportions has been created by the Tasmanian Government’s indifference and stupidity,” Mr Hammond said last August. “Instead of getting scallops, we’re getting that crap,” Mr Hammond said, pointing to a pile of netting, ropes and scat bags beside a wharf at Triabunna marina and which was salvaged from Oyster Bay in the vicinity of White Rock. “Every scallop boat is bringing that stuff in together with heaps of Northern Pacific Seastars.” The debris remained as a legacy of a failed Government joint venture with Japanese scallop breeders to farm Great Oyster Bay. Scallop fisherman Karl Krause and his crew mounted underwater cameras which recorded images of the sea bottom at 20 to 24 fathoms. DVD’s of their findings were provided to journalists. “This has been irresponsible of the Government and the bureaucrats of DPIW (Department of Primary Industry and Water) who refuse to do anything about cleaning up the environmental mess they created,” Mr Kruse said The Association’s executive officer, Bob Lister said: “We offered to remove the netting which has been a killing field for a whole range of marine species since the late 1980’s.” Minister Lewellyn heeded the media message, viewed the DVD and visited the Triabunna wharves to speak with fishermen. An agreement was reached with the result that the fishermen removed about 700 cubic metres of debris from Oyster Bay which was carted away by Glamorgan Spring Bay Council. Tons of starfish were dredged up by the scallop boats, also moved by Council to William Fergusson’s farm to be turned into fertiliser. At the Tandara celebration, a skipload of chilled beer, a spit roasted side of beef, tableloads of food and wine and loads of goodwill were consumed over the afternoon and into the night by friends of the scallop fishermen - of which there were very many. John Hammond and Karl Krause handed a cheque for $250 to Mayor Howard Harris, for Tasbash, and $2,000 for Camp Quality. Mr Hammond said Triabunna was the  fishermen’s favourite port where the Government and the people of Triabunna had provided first class facilities. “We didn’t have to contend with barways, there was always a berth ready, the deepwater jetty is just great and the people of Triabunna fantastic,” Mr Hammond said. “The scallop industry earned $27,000,000 this year and contributed greatly to the Tasmanian economy. “We would have had only half a season if it hadn’t been for Minister Llewellyn.”