Shallow dredging as a strategy for the control of sublittoral macrophytes: a case study in Tuggerah Lakes, New South Wales

Abstract

The effects of dredging the nearshores of the Tuggerah Lakes, on the central coast of New South Wales, to depths of 1.0, I.4 and 1.8 m, were investigated as a means of controlling aquatic macrophytes. The effects of this management strategy on the macrobenthic fauna and macrophyte growth were also evaluated.Recolonization of dredged plots by most of the 63 zoobenthic species present in control plots had occurred within 8 months of the treatment. All species of macrophytes had re-established in the shallowest (1.0 m) plot within 4 months but had failed to colonize the deeper plots up to 12 months after dredging. The removal of growing macrophytes from the water by dredging as a means of enhancing the shoreline is discussed, as are constraints relating to this method.