Saltwater Secrets, produced by award-winning filmmakers Bluebottle Films, explores our incredible Top End coasts, the threats they are currently facing, and the fishers, tourism businesses and local communities coming together to protect them.
2016 has seen some of the most dramatic and alarming changes to our Top End coasts, including the unprecedented dieback of mangroves and coral bleaching, as well as a range of ongoing industrial impacts, as summarised in our Health Check report.
Action to keep our Top End coasts healthy is needed now more than ever before. Together we’ve made incredible progress towards protection of our NT seas:
- Thanks to your support, the health of our coasts became a key issue during the NT election, with most parties, including Labor, committing to take action to protect our coasts. Now is the time to ensure they get on with the task without delay.
- With urgent funding for research required, NT Labor promised and has now provided $200,000 funding to Charles Darwin University towards much needed research into mangrove dieback in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
- Following legal action by the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory and the Environmental Defenders Office, the Federal Government admitted the decision to allow Port Melville to operate without the proper environmental checks and balances was wrong.
If approved, the operation of Port Melville Marine Supply Base would put at risk over 38 threatened species, including dugongs, dolphins and the endangered olive ridley turtle.
- Our new film, Saltwater Secrets, has been a great success, with packed-out screenings around town, as well as an excellent Parliamentary premiere attended by scientists, Members of the Legislative Assembly and the Environment Minister. Saltwater Secrets was also recognised as finalists in the Northern Territory’s own Capricornia Film Awards!
Thanks again for all your support this year. We hope you’ll take a moment to celebrate what you have helped to achieve this year, and we look forward to working with you in 2017 to keep our Top End coasts healthy.