Tallow Creek is on the southern outskirts of Byron Bay. The Tallow Creek catchment stretches from the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east, and includes Suffolk Park, Byron Hills and Baywood Chase.
The catchment covers approximately 450 hectares and consists of a steep-to-undulating upper catchment which drains via three creeks (North, Middle and South Tallow Creek). The lower catchment is characteristic of ancient dune systems, with drainage lines running parallel to the coastline. The three creeks of the Tallow catchment drain to Tallow Lake, which drains to the ocean at Tallow Beach.
Tallow Creek is classified as an ICOLL (Intermittently Closed and Open Coastal Lake or Lagoon). Tallow Creek is one of 70 ICOLLs in NSW. The entrance/mouth of Tallow Creek ICOLL may be closed to the sea from time to time and for varying periods, by natural beach building processes. ICOLLs have sensitive water quality because they accumulate loads of sediment and nutrients from the catchment and may have poor water circulation and flushing. Opening of the mouth generally occurs by natural means, however, mechanical intervention has occurred in the past.
A significant feature of the lower Tallow Creek catchment is the Arakwal National Park managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) which includes the Tallow Creek mouth.
The Plan of Management for the Arakwal National Park (NPWS 2007) acknowledges that Tallow Creek and the surrounding area is part of the ancestral homelands of the Bundjalung of Byron Bay (Arakwal) people. Tallow Beach and Tallow Creek, including the creek mouth, are all important for Arakwal People for their ongoing cultural practices and connection to country.
Tallow Creek estuary is a sacred ancestral place and home for Arakwal People and they continue to have a deep connection and understanding of the cultural seasons, fish movements (mullet runs), tides and changing nature of the creek (periods of opening and closing).
The Tallow Creek and the surrounding area is an important resource for Arakwal People providing sources of fish, crabs and prawns.
Council has permission from NPWS and DPI Fisheries - Marine Parks to manage the entrance of Tallow Creek in accordance with a revised 'Interim Position' of the existing Environmental Management Plan and Opening Strategy. The revised Interim Position was created in response to a fish kill event in June 2019. It does not support the mechanical opening of this ICOLL under any circumstance.
Council has permission to undertake the following management activities with concurrence from agencies:
- Scrape the beach berm when the sand berm reaches 2.2 metres AHD (above sea level); and
- A rain event has or is due to commence.
Read more about ICOLL management and why fish kills occur.
For detailed information about ICOLLs go to Management of coastal lakes and lagoons in NSW