Rosevears hotel owner Allan Virieux says the time for talk on Tamar is over

Allan Virieux, the owner of Rosevears Hotel, has built a tourism icon in the West Tamar, all oriented to face kanamaluka/Tamar River.

"This is a beautiful river, it's the best part of the river up here, but everything that happens downstream [at Launceston] floats through here," he said.

A passionate sailor in his own right, Mr Virieux said the Tamar River is badly underutilised, and fixes to water quality, sediment build-up and rice grass would make a tangible difference to the community.

"I moved from Flinders Island 40 years ago, and they [industry leaders and politicians] were talking about the Tamar River then," he said.

"They are still talking about it now, and nothing has changed."

Mr Virieux said now was the time for action, and urged all levels of government to work together to find a common solution.

"It's our river, let's fix it," he said.

Mr Virieux postponed his plans to build a 40-berth marina at Cimitiere Point, at the front of the hotel due to the impacts of COVID-19, but said he would look to reinvestigate the project when the time was right.

The River Hub at Cimitiere Point development featured 40 wet berths, a 45-space car park, 10 car and boat trailer spaces, a boat ramp and public foreshore area. A public river landing, viewing deck, riverside boardwalk and grassed areas are also part of the plans.

Mr Virieux expected the project to cost about $6 million.

So far, he has spent about $200,000, half of which came from the federal government, and a half from his pocket, to conduct environmental studies pull together a development application for the marina.

One of the issues the project faces is the incursion of rice grass on the banks of the river; the weed can't be pulled out or removed.

"I will have to build right over the top of it," he said.

While COVID put a pin in the marina plans, for now, Mr Virieux said he believed Northern Tasmania lacked the necessary infrastructure to support sailing activities on the Tamar River.

"A lot of people have boats, and to use them they need infrastructure, it's a matter of build it and they will come," he said.

He said building a marina or other infrastructure would bring more people to the area and "make the river more friendly" to tourists.

Mr Virieux said it was not the time to lay blame, but years of inaction had plagued solutions to the river's woes.

"Someone needs to make a decision - find the best way forward and implement it, whatever the cost."