Environment
Sustainability
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Water
Hunt for nature's bounty turns Rye Pier into a 'chicken cemetery'
The sea floor around Rye Pier has been littered with disintegrating chicken carcasses and plastic rubbish, dropped by crowds of people fishing for migratory giant spider crabs.
- by Miki Perkins
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Water
Sydney residents to pay less for water until next drought hits
Sydneysiders will pay less for their water from next month but face a price leap next time a dry spell hits, according to new usage charges.
- by Peter Hannam
Pollution
No sign of purple rain – so what turned Sydney creek a vivid mauve?
Authorities are still investigating the source and residual impact of contamination that turned a popular section of an inner city creek a bright shade of purple earlier this week.
- by Peter Hannam
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Sharks
Calls for more mitigation after 'big sharks seen' in the NSW region
The concerns come as family and friends of Rob Pedretti, the 60-year-old Queensland surfer who died from a shark bite at Kingscliff, prepare for his funeral.
- by Peter Hannam
Great Barrier Reef
Drone footage shows 64,000 green turtles migrating to Cairns rookery
Drone technology has allowed a more accurate estimation of the numbers coming to Raine Island to lay eggs.
- by Tony Moore
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Water
Clouds become water entitlements in ad hoc river plan, paper finds
Billions of dollars in water licences and infrastructure in the Murray-Darling Basin hinge on complex and opaque rules that vary greatly between rivers, researchers have found.
- by Peter Hannam
Mining
Subsidence from coal mine near Sydney leaves creek 'smashed up'
Environmental groups warn that severe damage done by a coal mine to creeks south of Sydney will likely be replicated if the company is allowed to expand.
- by Peter Hannam
Pollution
Coal miner investigated for pollution spill as it eyes expansion
A coal mine south of Sydney seeking approval to expand is being investigated by regulators for a recent pollution spill into a nearby river that feeds popular water holes used for swimming.
- by Peter Hannam
Water
Welcome rains boost Basin's fortunes but water wars are far from over
The Murray-Darling Basin rivers are running again after some of the best rain in years, but deep fault lines with the $13bn plan remain just below the surface.
- by Peter Hannam
Whales
Superheroes of the deep: humpbacks bounce back from near extinction to help fight climate change
Australia's humpback whale population is bouncing back from near extinction with 40,000 expected off the Australian east coast this breeding season, while helping the world fight climate change.
- by Amelia McGuire
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Water
NSW's water-sharing plans 'don't comply' with basin plan, agency says
The federal agency responsible for managing environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin has warned NSW's draft water-sharing plans are at odds with the existing Basin Plan.
- by Peter Hannam and Harriet Alexander