This also applies to those who reside in and around Lake Illawarra - including the Shoalhaven River - and gaining approvals can be both time-consuming and costly. DPI Fisheries along with Transport for NSW and NSW Crown Lands, have teamed up to make it easier to apply to install a pontoon or jetty.

Until recently, to build a jetty or pontoon, all landowners needed to seek advice from DPI Fisheries and Transport for NSW before approaching Crown Lands for landowner's consent and their local councils for development approval.

Now, some landowners will be able to skip contacting DPI Fisheries and Transport for NSW once they've checked on their river's Domestic Waterfront Structures Strategy (DWSS) to see if their property is in a pre-assessed 'green' area.

DWSS's new online maps available at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/research-development/spatial-data-portal, show waterfront areas that are appropriate for building waterfront structures.

DWSS use a traffic light system to show a location's suitability for building waterfront structures, with areas shown in green requiring less and more streamlined approvals than orange.

Areas mapped in red are unsuitable for gaining consent to build a waterfront structure.

DPI Fisheries project manager Alex Wray-Barnes said the DWSS foreshore mapping project, funded by the Marine Estate Management Strategy, is an example of government agencies working together to make approvals simpler and easier for the public.

Initially, the new system has been implemented on the NSW far north coast in the Richmond and Brunswick River estuaries.

Presently the Tweed and Evans rivers are under implementation before working further down the coast.