answers?, page-27

M4M,

You don't know what you're talking about.

Here are some images from Digital Globe that I downloaded(anyone can download these images).

As you can clearly see there is little to no reef's beyond the coastline and intertidal zone. They would be visible in the imagery.

In fact the area in black to the western side is Mn subcropping, and not a coral reef.






Yes some coral will be living there but it is "NOT" a limestone reef like the great Barrier reef.

In fact reefs make up only a few % of Grootes tenements, and the rest is all sand cover.

In fact if you check the 1:250:000 Groote Eylandt geological map SD 53-7,8,11,12 (B.A. Pietsch, 1997) there is no limestone mapped on Groote, Bickerton and surrounding islands. It is mostly sandstone/comglomerate basement of the Groote Eylandt Group.

I contacted the guys at ET fishing and confirmed they do most of the fishing to the south of Groote, in the deeper waters and to the NE beyond Winchelsea, around Bickerton Island and on the mainland for Barramundi.

Western Groote is not considered the best fishing location because of the "lack of reefs" deeper water and drop off zones.

In fact mining would create new drop off zones that would encourage extra fish.
Shallow strip dredging of a Mn bed with a sandy top layer would have NO impact on any coral reef whatsoever. Within 6 to 12 months you wouldn't even know the area had been dredged.dyor