Port Phillip Bay trial dredging starts

Trial dredging in Port Phillip Bay started on Friday August 5, and is scheduled to continue through to mid-October, says the Port of Melbourne Corporation.

The port has issued a notice to mariners outlining in detail the activities to be undertaken by the trailing suction hopper dredge Queen of the Netherlands .

The vessel will be dredging in port waters at locations within Port Phillip Heads, South Channel and Port Melbourne Channel.

Several support vessels will make hydrographic surveys and carry out environmental monitoring.

Transport minister Peter Batchelor said the trial dredge would remove 1.7m cu m of material and was comparable in size to maintenance dredges carried out every three to five years in the ports of Melbourne and Geelong shipping channels.

Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Neil Coulson welcomed the move, saying it was a small but important step towards the channel-deepening project proceeding.

“This is a project of immense economic benefit to the people of Victoria, and can be achieved with minimal environmental impact,” Coulson said. “It is important to note that this project has commercial imperatives driving it and that appropriate timeframes will be required to finalise the EES process to provide certainty to industry.”

He said that far from being the environmental disaster some opponents of channel deepening claimed it was, trial dredging was the result of the recommendation of an independent panel> The process would also be subject to strict environmental monitoring overseen by an independent EPA auditor.

“We look forward to channel deepening being considered on a rational, scientific basis. Until now, the lack of knowledge about the impact of channel deepening on the Bay, has encouraged the peddling of hysterical and fanciful myths, centred on regular tidal surges and tsunamis, the Rip being blasted with dynamite and Darwin eclipsing Melbourne as the hub port for southern Australia.”

He said it was not a case of the environment versus the economy. Infrastructure projects of this size require a co-existence between the two.

Meanwhile, planning minister Rob Hulls has released draft guidelines for public comment on the supplementary Environmental Effects Statement (EES) process for the proposal to deepen the shipping channels in Port Phillip Bay.

A copy of the draft is available at www.dse.vic.gov.au

Sections

Port Phillip Bay trial dredging starts

Weekly Top Stories

Document Actions