Jetty Repairs FAQ — Forster

Have them confirmed for your specific job before any work starts. Check with MidCoast Council, and ask the tradesperson which approvals your job needs. Marine park zoning is one thing you can set aside: the NSW marine protected areas dataset, checked in September 2026, shows no marine park or aquatic reserve zone within Wallis Lake. The lake's seagrass and oyster leases still have to be worked around, and both are covered below.

Because the tide changes so much within the one lake. Manly Hydraulics Laboratory's tidal planes analysis for 2001 to 2020 gives a mean tidal range of 0.879 m at Wallis Lake Entrance, Forster, 0.238 m on the Wallamba River at Tuncurry and 0.135 m at Pacific Palms Wharf. Highest astronomical tide is 0.88 m AHD at the entrance and 0.36 m AHD at Pacific Palms. On the entrance channel, low water exposes more of each pile. Near Pacific Palms it shows much less. Tide windows, pile exposure and deck height all have to be judged for the spot.

It can. NSW DPIRD mapping from 2006 and 2010 imagery shows about 538 ha of Posidonia australis in Wallis Lake, about 158 ha mixed with Zostera, and about 4,545 ha of Zostera and 1,602 ha of Zostera/Ruppia. Wallis Lake is the northern end of the Commonwealth's endangered Posidonia australis meadows community, and the Commonwealth guide for that community recommends mesh decking on jetties so light reaches the seagrass. If your jetty is due for new decking or a rebuild, ask the tradesperson whether mesh suits it and how the piles will go in without disturbing the bed.

Then the job has to be planned around the lease. When checked in September 2026, NSW DPIRD's Aquaculture Leases data recorded 388 Recognised Aquaculture Sites in Wallis Lake, covering about 361 ha. These are sites where a lease is or has been in place. DPIRD's Oyster Industry Sustainable Aquaculture Strategy layer also mapped a priority area for oyster aquaculture within the lake. Silt, offcuts and barge or access routes need to be kept clear of lease areas. Mention any lease near your jetty when you enquire.

Yes. A 2011 WorleyParsons report for the former Great Lakes Council, now MidCoast Council, says the lake entrance, Cape Hawke Harbour, is trained by breakwaters and walls. The southern breakwater was built in 1898 and the northern one completed in 1966. Citing a 1992 Public Works study, the report says the northern breakwater significantly affected tidal velocities, ranges and shoaling, and that the estuary was still readjusting. Citing the 1999 Wallis Lake Estuary Processes Study, it reports islands in the entrance channel eroding, particularly just upstream of the Forster-Tuncurry Bridge. For a jetty in that stretch, ask for the bed level around the piles to be checked as well as the timber.

Mostly the scope: how many piles need replacing, how long they are and what they go into, how much decking and framing is affected, and whether the jetty can be reached from land or only from the water. Some Wallis Lake factors can change how a job is done, such as mesh decking over seagrass, keeping clear of a nearby oyster lease, or the size of the tide at your spot.