‘Tide to Table’ was adopted to reinforce the message that actions on land affect our waterways and our estuaries, which in turn affects the quality and kind of seafood that is presented on our dinner table.
The program was established in 2004 and integrated the seafood sectors needs into local Natural Resource Management and vise versa, actioning $8M towards on-ground works.
The Tide to Table program was a series of devolved grant rounds targeting environmental issues to fish habitats and water quality. Typically involving sedimentation, seagrass loss, pesticide and nutrient input, mooring and propeller damage, wildlife entanglement and boat strikes, fish passage obstacles, loss of saltmarsh and mangroves, pest fish translocation; remote area and flood recovery marine debris clean up, Community ad industry behaviour change and addressing national scale obstacles to fish passage with regards to road crossing culverts.
All marine life needs healthy waterways and aquatic habitats to breed, feed, shelter and thrive.
The program’s success was due to its ability to involve local farmers and seafood producers, businesses, communities and government Agencies in a common cause – to rehabilitate a river system or estuary and improve its water quality, fish and seafood habitat and rebuild the health of the immediate environment.
Running for 9 years, a total of 17 successful Tide to Table programs occurred in New South Wales and Queensland. The program received from competitive grant processes support from the Australian and State governments to the tune of $3.2M leveraging in kind contributions of $4.8M.
The program was very successful as an igniter of action on these topics and naturally local organisations needed to take up the continuation if it was important to them.
The legacy left following the program can be seen in a variety of topics and sites still a major focus of NRM’s, local governments and community organisations. Combining the needs of fish and catchment improvement is a powerful tool most can relate to.
To find out more please email comms@oceanwatch.org.au
