When I arrived in this region more than 15 years ago to study seagrasses and wetlands, Port Stephens was just another estuary to me.
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I had already studied and mapped the disturbed seagrass beds in Sydney Harbor, from Manly to the North Heads.
My colleagues and I then turned our attention to Lake Macquarie and its lead and nickle-tainted sediments, a toxic legacy left behind by the former Pasminco smelter for our generation to clean up.
Port Stephens, on the other hand, was different. In the early 20th century, it had narrowly missed the honour of being the nation's capital.
In a call for proposals, Walter Burly Griffin had designed two cities for over 200,000 people as possibilities: Port Stephens City and Canberra. We all know which city won.
Around the same time a proposal to make Port Stephens into a huge naval base was also scrapped when the US Navy chose Singapore for its far-east port. Another scheme, called Pindimar City, designed to decentralise the population from the Sydney region also failed. Then there was the proposal to make Port Stephens a giant coal-loading facility. Lucky for us, the "port" dodged that bullet too and Newcastle took all the honours.
These developmental "failures" have left us with a healthy ecosystem system that has not been compromised by big industry. Here's a few facts to consider:
Estuaries are the places where fresh and sea water mix. These places are incredibly productive, much more than any land-based ecosystem.
Ninety-five percent of all commercially and recreationally important Australian fish spend part of their lives in estuaries.
Recent studies have documented that almost every estuary in southern Australia - from Perth to Brisbane are in serious decline. So are their fisheries.
It didn't take me very long to determine that Port Stephens, the Myall Lakes and their associated catchments were very special and met the criteria for inclusion into world heritage. I'm not the first scientist to notice this. World Heritage will not change property ownership, when you can mow your lawn, or eliminate fishing. State and local laws will still apply. The big change will be how we view and manage the area as a whole.
Terry Domico is a conservation biologist from Anna Bay and an advisor for the Marine Parks Association.