Bay dredging plume has spread beyond the limits
Date: 14-Jul-2008
The first report from scientists independently monitoring Port Phillip Bay has confirmed fears that the dredge plume from the Port of Melbourne’s channel deepening project is spreading much further than authorities predicted.
Water-quality testing by scientists from Australian Marine Ecology and Monash University, conducting monitoring as part of the Australian Conservation Foundation’s independent BayMonitor program, shows the dredge plume has spread beyond limits predicted in the state government’s Supplementary Environmental Effects Statement.
Testing found a reduction of light and an increase of suspended sediments in the water column a full 15–20 kilometres from where the dredging is happening.
Australian Conservation Foundation marine campaign coordinator Chris Smyth said:
“Satellite pictures of the bay suggested the plume from dredging had spread much further than was predicted in the State Government’s environmental management plan. Water quality monitoring has confirmed those fears.
“Light and nutrients are the foundation of Port Phillip Bay’s unique ecosystems. If they are starved of these things, the bay’s fish, crustaceans, seagrass meadows, seaweed, sponges, starfish, crabs, worms, penguins and dolphins will all be affected.
“The dredging project’s official monitoring program is monitoring too few sites, those sites are mostly in the wrong places and the data being collected is inadequate for assessing the project’s impact on the health of our bay, especially the impact on marine life.
“It’s up to the State Government to ensure the monitoring and management of the dredging is far more rigorous. The Government should immediately remove the monitoring role from the Port of Melbourne Corporation and give it – along with more resources and stronger powers – to the Office of the Environmental Monitor.
“We will continue to conduct independent testing and continue to push for a review of Australia’s national and state environmental laws to ensure projects like channel deepening are more rigorously assessed and better monitored and managed,” he said.