Stockton Beach Coastal Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program update
Responsibility for delivering the Stockton Beach Coastal and Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program (CERMP) initiative has been transferred from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
The Stockton Beach CERMP project, funded by a $4.7 million Commonwealth grant and a $1.5 million contribution from City of Newcastle, is an essential first step in delivering on the NSW Government election commitment to 'repair Stockton Beach'.
The department has been working closely with NSW Public Works on the CERMP project, providing technical advice and project oversight, as well as on City of Newcastle's Extended Stockton Coastal Management Program. Responsibility for delivering the remaining CERMP project activities will ensure that the project aligns with and transitions smoothly to delivering the Stockton Beach Repair election commitment project, for which the department is the lead agency.
Part A of the CERMP project is complete and involved the dredging and placement of 130,000 cubic metres of sand on Stockton Beach in October and November 2023. Parts B and C involve detailed viability and feasibility investigations into potential sand sources within the Hunter River north arm and offshore marine areas.
Hunter River north arm sand source investigations
The Hunter River north arm borrow area desktop assessment is complete, with initial findings indicating that sand may be difficult to access due to existing services and environmental constraints.
The next stage of the assessment will focus on investigating the feasibility of using the north arm borrow area to nourish Stockton Beach. This will include investigating the method and costs associated with dredging sand from this location and transporting it to the beach.
Stockton Beach Repair Project: Hunter River north arm sand source areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 (not to scale).
Offshore sand source investigations
The offshore sand source assessment has identified 3 potential areas to progress investigations. A detailed sand bed investigation will be carried out to narrow down the preferred sand source area, involving:
- sub-bottom profiling: a surveying technique that uses sound waves to map the layers of sand and rock beneath the sea floor
- vibrocoring: a method which uses vibrations to collect core samples from the sea floor
- grab samples: a method which uses a grab sampler to collect samples from the sea floor
- underwater video.
The contract for the sand bed investigation was awarded to Bluecoast Consulting Engineers in February 2025. Fieldwork is scheduled for completion by 14 April 2025 to avoid the whale migration and shark aggregation window.
Preliminary consultation has been conducted with Worimi Registered Aboriginal Parties and Heritage NSW on the preferred offshore areas.
Stockton Beach Repair Project: Offshore sand source areas A, B and C (not to scale).
Next steps
The department will continue to work with NSW Public Works to deliver the remaining project activities consistent with the project plan approved by the Australian Government. This includes finalising the sand source assessment for the Hunter River north arm, and commencing detailed sand bed investigations for potential offshore sand sources.
Once these detailed assessments are complete, environmental assessments and approvals will be undertaken.
Additional projects in progress
The department is continuing work to monitor the coastal environment at Stockton Beach. The department is also looking to consider the views, experiences and observations of the local community throughout delivery of the Beach Repair Project.
In July 2024, a nearshore wave buoy was installed in approximately 13 m water depth off Stockton Beach. This wave buoy helps us to understand the nearshore environment at Stockton by collecting frequent data on nearshore wave height, direction and period, wind speed and direction, and sea surface temperature.
More recently, we have launched a camera-based beach monitoring program at Stockton Beach, in partnership with City of Newcastle. These beach monitoring cameras will capture regular images of the beach, allowing us to understand how the Stockton shoreline changes in response to storms, as well as before and after the delivery of sand nourishment.
Imagery captured by the cameras will only be published if people within the images are not identifiable. To protect privacy, images may have been edited to blur people that are visible.
To find out more about the Stockton Beach monitoring cameras and other monitoring programs, visit Stockton Beach Repair monitoring programs.
To date, the monitoring data collected by our nearshore wave buoy has been complemented by drone photogrammetry surveys to investigate coastal events at Stockton. In early August 2024, a high-energy wave event resulted in beach erosion at Stockton Beach. While peak wave height measured during the event was relatively minor at 5.3 m, the extended period of large waves associated with the event was noteworthy.
Impacts were particularly severe in the northern parts of the beach, where the estimated volume of sand eroded from the beach above 0 m AHD was ~80 m3/m. The sand eroded from the beach profile during this coastal event has likely been deposited within the surf zone, and based on our understanding of coastal processes at this location, it is anticipated that much of this sand will slowly return to the beach under milder wave conditions.
Key findings from the Stockton Beach monitoring programs will be made available on the Stockton Beach Repair Project website and through future project updates.
Get involved
The community can participate in monitoring the coastline through the 3 CoastSnap locations along Stockton Beach. CoastSnap is a citizen science program that allows members of the public to take photos of the beach with a smartphone, and then upload these photos to a community database where they are used to map shoreline change.
To find out more about CoastSnap, visit CoastSnap beach monitoring.