A sign on the old wooden jetty on Lymington Road in Cygnet reads, ‘Permanent Closure Notice’.
Long Point Jetty is to be ‘decommissioned and removed’ because a new, ‘state-of-the-art facility’ (a new concrete jetty) further south on the same road is intended to replace it.
All vessels were to be removed from the jetty by November 30.
The Huon News wonders how this sits with octogenarians like Jim and John, who have both lived aboard for 35 years and spend at least three months of the year at the jetty.
Another regular is Bob Cleary, who owns Georges Bay – 54 foot ex-cray boat that often makes herself at home on the jetty.
“In the last 60 years the ownership of pleasure craft has increased dramatically, yet the number of jetties has decreased,” he said.
“We have lost so many jetties in the Huon and elsewhere over the last 60 years.
“Parks seem intent on removing any structure or jetty on or near the water.
“The Cygnet timber jetty is one of only four jetties between Cygnet and Strahan.”
Built in 1965, the construction dates of Long Point Jetty means it was built after the Port Cygnet area was first declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1952, but well before the formal establishment of the Port Cygnet Marine Conservation Area in 2009.
[Read the rest of the article in the hard-copy, available throughout the Huon Valley.]
