By Margaret Maccoll
As school holidays approach the focus hones in on the behaviour of visitors to Noosa North Shore.
Noosa Police acting senior sergeant Troy Cavell said with police patrols, Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers and locals on the lookout they didn’t expect many problems.
Snr Sgt Cavell said Covid-19 restrictions had reduced the numbers of visitors to a quarter of normal availability.
He said last weekend there were 680 people visiting the island with police patrolling from Noosa and Gympie and 95 per cent of people do the right thing but with 70km of beach to patrol they can’t be everywhere.
Police, rangers and locals will be working together to keep a close eye on occurrences on north shore but he advised anyone seeing unwanted behaviour to video it and contact police who could follow up their information.
Snr Sgt Cavell said police resources would be stretched over the holidays with Hastings Street Association reporting 100 per cent capacity on top of Noosa’s regular 50,000 population.
Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said last weekend there were no traffic offences or unlicensed drivers and all breath tests were negative. Campers reported behaviour was good so thank you to all lookouts, she said.
The situation was a far cry from the previous weekend that she described as “horrendous”.
“There was a lot of people there doing the right thing but some did not respect the safety of others or the environment,” she said.
Ms Bolton said the problems arose from a few people north of Teewah village driving dangerously and doing doughnuts on the sand.
Local residents report some “idiocy in driving behaviour and stupidity relating to campfires not being properly extinguished” among a few campers north of Teewah.
Locals say reducing the numbers of permits issued during holiday periods would ease the impact on the environment.
The winter also brings to north shore a seasonal commercial sea mullet fishery operation which raises community comment.
Ms Bolton said from advice received, the mullet fishing currently occurring on Noosa North Shore is a seasonal event operating under commercial fishing licences.
“Concerns have been raised with our office during this period each year and to date, all activities raised of concern have been legal under the permits held, including the use of nets close to the river mouth and camping,“ she said.
“A further concern this year relates to those crossing the border from NSW, however under the current border restrictions there is an exemption for those working in certain specific industries including commercial fishing.“
Of most urgent need is a toilet facility at First Cutting, locals say.
“Toilets at First Cutting to service the needs of the adventure camp, hotel, holiday makers, makes sense,” they say.
“The lack of toilet and rubbish facilities along the beach is a problem for us and despite whatever poetry Council and QPWS say after a holiday period the “overflow” of both these is evident on the beach and people do spend time volunteering to clean up.”
Ms Bolton said she wants to make sure the region is well managed so people can feel safe and enjoy themselves.
Until Covid-19 restrictions are lifted everyone visiting Noosa North Shore needs a Restricted Area Access Permit and a normal Vehicle Access Permit and a camping permit if camping.
More information at parks.des.qld.gov.au/covid-19
