Toronto Royal Motor Yacht Club joins calls for permanent solution for Swansea Channel after drop in fundraiser attendees

Toronto Royal Motor Yacht Club will hold its 16^th annual fundraiser for the Hunter branch of Cancer Council NSW this weekend, but about 10 of the usual 60 crews that participate will not attend.

The club's vice commodore Mel Steiner says the COVID-19 situation may have played some part in that result, but he had spoken to several skippers - particularly of larger vessels from Sydney that usually bring in the big fundraising dollars - who have decided not to come to Lake Macquarie because the state of the channel presented too much of a risk.

The regatta has raised more than $470,000 over 15 years.

The Newcastle Herald has reported in recent weeks that Maritime NSW is in the process of preparing to call for tenders, expected this month, to this year remove enough sand from the channel to fill 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

But Mr Steiner on Monday echoed the calls of Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie and Swansea MP Yasmin Catley, who want a long-term solution.

"This issue with the channel has been going on for God knows how long," he said.

"It never seems to get any better. They do some dredging and end up with some deep holes, they fill back in and we're quickly back to where we started. It's a crazy situation."

Mr Steiner said he supported an idea raised by Marine Rescue Lake Macquarie commander Malcolm Druce in the Herald last week, who said a permanent dredge should be enlisted to regularly maintain shallow marine thoroughfares between the Central Coast and Myall Lakes.

"They need to have a permanent solution to this, not an ad hoc arrangement," Mr Steiner said.

"They wait until there's enough anger built-up around the fact that it's silted-up before they do anything about it and then you've got to wait until they call for tenders. It's just silly."

Ms Catley said the regatta and other events had "the ability to raise funds for community organisations, increase visitors to the area and drive economic activity".

"However, they are prevented from doing this due to the dire state of Swansea Channel," she said.

When announcing last month the plan to dredge in the first half of 2022, Maritime NSW said Swansea Channel was a top priority.

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