How the future of Ningaloo Reef hinges on a port a billionaire and an author

The lighthouse at Vlamingh Head, Exmouth, is one of the few places in Australia you can see the sun both rise and set over the sea.

To the west is Ningaloo, the world’s largest fringing reef, meaning you can swim to it straight off the white sandy beach, unlike the Great Barrier Reef.

To the east of the North West Cape peninsula is the Exmouth Gulf, an important ecosystem for fish and dugongs, but one that lacks the World Heritage listing protection of the reef.

A snorkeler swims alongside a whale shark near Exmouth.Credit:Tourism Australia

Tension around the development of the coastal land at the entrance to Western Australia’s northern Pilbara region has existed in the community for decades. But a bigger clash is looming, with a swathe of new “green” and “eco-minded” projects and several large resources operations on the cards.

At the same time, a billionaire couple is changing the face of the town and a renowned Australian author is stepping up efforts to protect Ningaloo and the Exmouth Gulf with a new documentary.

Ningaloo â€" derived from the Baiyungu word nyinggulu, said to mean “high land jutting into the sea” â€" is teeming with hundreds of species of fish, while turtles, manta rays and humpback and whale shark tours draw thousands of visitors from around the globe every year.

But Exmouth â€" powered largely by tourism, military and commercial prawn fishing â€" has struggled to grow past 2700 permanent residents despite swelling to about 10,000 in the winter tourist season.

Shothole Canyon in Exmouth’s Cape Range.Credit:Peter de Kruijff

Oil and gas pipe dream cancelled

There have been several ideas to open up Exmouth’s economy. One thought was to make it a home base for fly-in, fly-out workers operating in the Pilbara; another has been for a deep port to service the cruise ship industry.

The latest idea to fall down was a plan to fabricate 10-kilometre pipes for the nearby offshore oil and gas industry that would be towed through the gulf.

There was a massive outcry from environmentalists â€" including author Tim Winton, who is the patron of advocacy group Protect Ningaloo, and popular YouTuber Brodie Moss â€" given the gulf has a greater variety of fish than the reef and is a safe harbour for humpback mothers and their calves on their southern migration.

In the end, the company behind the proposal decided not to push ahead due to changed market conditions, but the interest in the project and other industrial developments spurred Western Australia’s independent watchdog to try to measure commercial and community sentiments around the industrialisation of the gulf.

The Environmental Protection Authority consultation now represents a line-in-the-sand moment for Exmouth to decide what sustainable growth looks like for a town that respects its natural assets.

A single-jetty deep-water “green” port on the western side of the gulf, about 10 kilometres south of Exmouth and next to the beachfront estate where Moss and Winton own properties, is the latest flashpoint.

Gascoyne Gateway wants to build a single-jetty deep-water port and renewable hub near Exmouth.Credit:Gascoyne Gateway

Protect Ningaloo says the facility is incompatible with the area, while supporters believe it will underpin economic activity by bringing in cruise ships and super-yachts, and by providing more capacity for Defence and the Australian Border Force.

Gascoyne Gateway, the private company behind the project, says it will create 70 ongoing jobs at the port, 130 in the town and 600 in the wider region.

The jetty and associated marine infrastructure would have a 12.63-hectare footprint in the gulf, while more than 1 million cubic metres of seabed would need to be dredged.

Gascoyne Gateway says the project would bring with it renewable energy, a reduction in cost-of-living pressures and access to more drinkable water.

The company states the seagrass and coral cover within its project footprint is minimal and the location was chosen because it would have the least impact.

Exmouth Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Gillespie, who supports the green port, has lived in the town for more than a decade and runs one of its many resorts.

He said a lot of people wanted the town to stay sleepy but he believed a balance could be reached.

“Having corporates here who abide by the rules and the EPA umpire will work and it can work,” Mr Gillespie said.

“The fact of the matter is we have these environmentalists who have no short-term or long-term future to see how the town should survive. Most of them don’t live here, and if they do it’s really few.”

The commercial fishing industry in the gulf is uneasy with a new port, with MG Kailis, which has been in the region since the 1960s trawling for prawns, suggesting the area was already packed at times with vessels.

The state’s Regional Development Minister, Alannah MacTiernan, said infrastructure for cruise ships previously had a good economic case but it may need to be revisited, given the impacts of COVID-19 on the sector.

“We’re not saying there won’t be other industries that could develop up there,” Ms MacTiernan said. “We’re certainly open to it but we do understand whatever it is we do, whether it’s mining or hydrogen industry ... that we’ve just got to protect the reef.”

A massive resort proposed three kilometres north of Coral Bay next to the Ningaloo Reef was rejected twice in 1997 and 2003 before the World Heritage listing was awarded in 2011.Credit:Coral Coast Marina Development Pty Ltd

Protesters dust off ‘Save Ningaloo’ bumper stickers

Seasoned environmental campaigners are lined up against the port project, including Protect Ningaloo director Paul Gamblin, who was part of the movement that stopped a massive resort being built in Coral Bay in 1997 and 2003.

Mr Gamblin rejected accusations that a small group of activists not part of the community were making all the noise against projects such as the port.

“Protect Ningaloo began and is still grounded in Exmouth ... we’ve been working closely with the tourism sector and researchers for a long time and have pushed for world heritage listing that many in the community are proud of,” he said.

“Big industrial infrastructure, once it’s in place, it’s almost impossible to modify ... it means you’re locking in impacts, in the case of the port, for 100 years.”

Author Tim Winton is working on a documentary series about the North West Cape.

The activists are pushing for greater conservation actions, while Protect Ningaloo’s patron works on a three-part TV series about the area that will be aired in 2022.

Winton, a four-time winner of the Miles Franklin award who has a freshwater Kimberley fish named after him for his conservation efforts, is spending the year filming the project for the ABC, which explores the reef, gulf and cape.

The WA government is helping bankroll the series, which will raise awareness about the values of the North West Cape during a period when salt miners and Gascoyne Gateway are trying to get projects going.

Mr Gamblin said that without a port, he still wanted to see Exmouth powered by renewables, with a blending of environmental management and economic activity.

“For us that means securing the tourism sector that is already there, which is quite diverse already,” he said.

“Minderoo is already building a lab there, we’re seeing a lot of interest from universities, there’s all sorts of jobs with that.”

Andrew Forrest has been bankrolling a range of initiatives in the Exmouth area.Credit: Supplied

Ocean crusader with fertile plans

Billionaires Andrew and Nicola Forrest, who co-founded and co-chair the Minderoo Foundation, have been behind a series of investments in Exmouth over the past four years that are changing the face of the town.

The couple’s first big investment was in April 2017, when they bought the Ningaloo Lighthouse Holiday Park for $6.5 million. An adjoining 30.54-hectare block of shrubland was later purchased for $1.39 million.

An $85 million redevelopment, through the Forrests’ investment business Tattarang, is now in the works to turn a caravan park into an eco-resort.

The road out to the Ningaloo Reef runs between the caravan park and the beach but the state and federal governments have promised to move it as a safety and COVID-19 stimulus measure for the region.

The Forrest family wants to redevelop the Ningaloo Lighthouse caravan park.Credit:Tattarang

About 12 hectares of heritage-listed land would need to be cleared for the 2.8-kilometre road realignment, and 4.52 hectares on lots owned by the Forrests for the holiday park redevelopment.

A Tattarang spokesman said principles of sustainable tourism were at the heart of the project, which is subject to an EPA review and would address the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and the Exmouth community.

Minderoo made more waves in 2019 when it announced a $100 million marine program that included the funding of a world-class research centre in Exmouth, which gets a peppercorn lease from the local shire.

Dr Forrest â€" who received his doctorate for marine science later the same year â€" said with the launch of the Flourishing Oceans program the charity was making a timely commitment to support Australia’s oceans when people were losing sight of sustainably managing the sea.

Minderoo’s submission to the environmental watchdog’s recent gulf consultation said ad-hoc or poorly considered multisector industrialisation of the gulf was a key concern.

“Any growth in the tourism sector must be well-considered and sustainable,” it said.

But the same consultation process prompted concerns from environmental groups with another Tattarang project on the eastern side of the gulf, adjacent to a mangrove system crucial for birdlife and prawn nursery grounds.

Wyloo Metals has a live exploration licence on the eastern side of Exmouth Gulf for a potential sulphate of potash operation.Credit:WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety

Tattarang has an exploration lease through its company Wyloo Metals â€" covering about 500 square kilometres of land neighbouring another company’s proposed salt project â€" looking into the viability of a sulphate of potash operation that could be used for fertilisers.

Even without new industrial projects going ahead, Exmouth’s townsite is already full to the gills eight months of the year.

The local MP, Vince Catania from the Nationals, said the pressure of not expanding housing and community infrastructure was putting a strain on the environment.

The government is advancing worker accommodation options, but speaking generally about the future of Exmouth, Ms MacTiernan said no one wanted to see it turned into an industrial metropolis.

“I think in a sense we’re coming into a stage of development where we don’t have to repeat the errors of the Great Barrier Reef,” she said.

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Peter de Kruijff is a journalist with WAtoday.

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