North Coast beaches have been given excellent grades in this year’s State of the Beaches Report, according to Lismore MP Janelle Saffin. 

“While we don’t have beaches in the Lismore Electorate they are still our beaches we swim in and have grown up with,” Ms Saffin says.

“It’s good to see some of them receive top ratings.”

Water quality assessment indicated that 100 per cent of monitored ocean beaches in Ballina Shire and Richmond Valley achieved a Good or Very Good grading. This means the swim sites were suitable for swimming most or almost all of the time.

The best rated beaches in the region were Seven Mile Beach, Shelly Beach, Lighthouse Beach and Shark Bay.

Overall, 53 per cent of the 19 monitored swim sites in the North Coast region performed well, with gradings of Good or Very Good. 

In Ballina, three of the seven estuarine swim spots were classed as Good while four sites – Shaws Bay North, East and West and Missingham Beach – received Poor grades. Shaws Bay East was downgraded from Good from the previous year. Only one of the four monitored lake/lagoon sites (Lake Ainsworth South) was graded as Good in 2023-24, with Lake Ainsworth North, East and West all graded as Poor, this was the same grade as previous year.  

Two estuarine swim sites in Richmond Valley – Evans River and Elm Street Bridge North, were also graded as Poor, similar to the previous year’s results. 

The North Coast experienced above average rainfall in Spring 2023 due to heavy rainfall in October and November.

Rainfall is the major driver of pollution in swim sites, with water quality impacted by stormwater runoff and sewage overflows.  

State of the Beaches grades are compiled from water quality samples collected at NSW swim sites monitored under the Beachwatch and Beachwatch Partnership programs.   

Daily Beachwatch pollution forecasts and weekly star ratings for beaches across NSW can be found at beachwatch.nsw.gov.auand on Twitter and Facebook.