How long must Noosa wait for effective, coordinated action to tidy up the river that is our most precious asset?

For years Noosa’s residents have watched with growing concern as increasing numbers of boats clutter up the Noosa River between Tewantin and Noosa Woods, the result of Maritime Safety Queensland’s decades-long policy of turning a blind eye to boats anchoring for as long as they like where they please, and MSQ’s policy of approving increasing numbers of buoy moorings so that boats can tie up to a buoy for as long as they want. 

In a welcome development since the last edition of Noosa Matters there are encouraging signs that MSQ may be finally on track to introducing strict and meaningful long-term anchoring restrictions. 

How effective an enforcer of its own anchoring restrictions MSQ proves to be remains to be seen. For the time being, fair minded folk will give them the benefit of the doubt.  

If MSQ proves itself to be an effective enforcer of its anchoring reforms, it will be addressing about half of the boat-cluttering mess it has allowed to evolve on the Noosa River over the past 40 years.  

For MSQ to tackle the other half of the boat-cluttering mess, it will need to resist local political pressures to significantly increase the number of MSQ approved buoy moorings in the Noosa River to accommodate: 

• Those who in good faith have joined MSQ’s long buoy-mooring wait list and are who are in good faith waiting for their turn;
• The boats that MSQ will no longer be allowing to anchor long-term in the Noosa River; 
• The socially vulnerable and/or homeless people wanting to liveaboard;
• The politically well-connected who have boasted for years that they and/or their boats are so special that they need not join MSQ’s buoy mooring waiting list to wait their turn.

If MSQ does not resist local political pressures to increase the number of buoy moorings to accommodate all of those cited above, the brutal reality is that the Noosa River will end up with the same number of boats that are cluttering it today!  

To avoid such an ‘own-goal’ debacle, MSQ will need to win the support of its political boss, the Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, to formally cap buoy mooring numbers in the Noosa River to MSQ’s currently informal cap of around 105 (MSQ is tight lipped on the precise number).  

Around 60 of these 105 buoy moorings are currently occupied by MSQ approved boats, leaving around 45 buoy moorings currently available for MSQ allocation. In a rational and fair world, these would be allocated to the top 45 on MSQ’s buoy mooring waiting list, the 105 cap would be formalised by the Minister and MSQ, and MSQ would achieve the significant Noosa River reforms of a safer and decluttered river.

However, with local Noosa political lobbying of MSQ by those no longer allowed to anchor long-term, by those purporting to advocate on behalf of socially vulnerable and/or homeless people, and by those who believe that they and their boat are so special they automatically deserve a buoy mooring, there is a danger that MSQ and its Minister will succumb, and the number of buoy moorings in the Noosa River could blow out from around 105 to a number approaching 200.

What a monumental Noosa River Reform failure this would be – a less safe and more cluttered Noosa River than before!

Clearly, for the Minister and MSQ to avoid this embarrassing debacle, it will need to deliver not just Noosa River anchoring reform but also – just as importantly – Noosa River buoy mooring reform with buoy mooring numbers capped to around 105. 

Disclosure: 

The writer currently holds a MSQ buoy mooring authority in Woods Bay.