There will soon be a new, bigger Daintree River ferry but conservationists and traditional owners warn the wilderness area can't cope with more visitors.
A new ferry capable of taking more cars across the Daintree River into the World Heritage-listed rainforest is expected to be operational within four years but there are concerns sensitive sites are already struggling to cope with visitor volumes.The council expects the new vessel will cope with congestion until the 2050sDouglas Shire Council this week voted to replace the existing three-lane ferry with a wider vessel capable of taking four lanes of cars across the river at a time.
"All it's doing is displacing the very large numbers from the queues into the [rainforest] without actually providing the attraction with the tools that are necessary to properly manage that increased influx," Mr Hewett said. A 2019 management plan for the Daintree National Park warned the capacity of "key visitor nodes" in the park "may not cope with increasing visitation".
In the 2020-21 financial year, cars and utes made more than 83,000 river crossings using the ferry, according to council data.The line-up of cars waiting to board the Daintree Ferry can stretch for kilometres.
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