They gathered on Sunday January 5 at the lake to carry out a symbolic dig, call for council action and raise people's awareness of the problem.

Sue East said the lake had been an icon for the area for the past 200 years, for fishermen, tourists and locals.

"It's an absolute travesty," she said.

"The lake has been silting up for years now, due to bridges which have been put up. The lake used to flow freely, like any intermittently closing and opening lagoon. There are 70 of them in Australia.

"My great-great-great grandfather and all of his many relatives came here in 1840 and used to dig out the lake constantly, to open it to the sea because it became rancid, and it needed fresh saltwater," said Ms East.

"That was done until the 1960's and 1970's when everything changed. What needs to be done is for the council to fix our lake. It's silted up. It needs a lot of the bed of the lake removed and taken away from the entrance, because it just washes in with the next big tide or the next current that changes."

Faith Buggie holidayed at Lake Cathie for 70 years, and retired there.

"I care about what's been taken away from us - a beautiful lake. That's why we bought here and built here - to retire here, and die here. They just keep doing quick fixes and throwing good money after bad. The bridges seem to be the main problem. They don't do anything that's a permanent fix."

Kylie Willows was born and raised in Lake Cathie and holidays there regularly.

"I want to show my support for opening the lake and restoring the ecosystem of the lake back to the way it should be," she said.

"It's an ecological disaster. It's a wasteland. It used to be a thriving habitat for wildlife and fish. All of that has been destroyed. It's an eyesore as well. It's devastating for the local community. Lake Cathie is a gathering place for local people. Our family has been here for 40 years, and now the lake is disgusting," said Ms Willows.

"Gearing up for the local government elections, we will produce an independent score card for all the candidates who are running. We will put together a list of action steps required to put the lake back to its original condition.

"We will survey all of them on what needs to happen, and record their responses, and where they stand on all the issues, and we will distribute the score cards to all the voters at all the polling booths across the region.

"People need to know where council stand on the issue, and what action candidates are prepared to do to restore the system," she added.

At the November council meeting, council voted in favour of obtaining a one-off short-term licence with Crown Lands to open the ailing lake to the ocean.

A packed public gallery heard the debate and the decision setting out the steps to open the lake after Peta Pinson put forward a mayoral minute to the council meeting on Wednesday November 20.

Cr Pinson said the lake had been deteriorating day by day, week by week, month by month.

She said opening the lake was not only the right thing to do but it was the expected thing to do by our community.

Cr Justin Levido questioned the mayor as to why the council would open the lake, "bearing in mind the incredible negative consequences".

"We have low water, high salinity, poor water quality, marine life dying and fish kills almost on a daily basis," Cr Pinson said in response.

"We have a community that's crying out to be heard and asking us to do this."

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