Port Phillip Bay dredging

The VNPA has long opposed channel deepening in Port Phillip Bay, arguing that the area's unique and irreplaceable marine ecology is far too important to put at risk.

Since dredging began in 2008 rockfall damage has been far worse than predicted, and scientists now say that up to 55 per cent of reef areas found at Rip Bank in the bay's entrance have been turned into bare rock.

Many areas are being invaded and replaced by seaweeds that could irreversibly change the bay's unique sponge gardens and rubble continues to scour and blanket reef surfaces.

Port should pay

Since these revelations surfaced the VNPA has joined other environment groups in calling on the Victorian Government to require the Port of Melbourne Corporation to use its $100 million bond money to offset the incredible damage done to the sponge gardens.

The VNPA wants to see the bond money used to ensure Victoria's underwater environment is protected from the impact of future major projects like channel deepening.

Although the Port of Melbourne Corporation may find it difficult to restore the Rip Bank sponges, it can offset rockfall damage by putting up the funds to establish a comprehensive community monitoring and mapping program in Victorian waters, including Port Phillip and Western Port bays.

The money can also be used to protect other significant and unique marine habitats across Victoria by strengthening planning laws and creating an integrated marine planning and management system.

Biodiversity hotspot

The entrance canyon to Port Phillip Bay is a biodiversity hotspot for sea sponges and one of the most ecologically significant parts of the bay.

A mecca for the local dive tourism industry, more than 100 species found at or near the entrance canyon are found nowhere else on earth.

The sponge gardens were recently listed by the Victorian Government as a threatened community under the State's Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, but it was too late to protect them from the dredging damage.

Environmental Effects Statement

The lengthy process to determine the environmental impacts of channel deepening has resulted in an Environmental Effects Statement and a Supplementary Environmental Effects Statement, both of which highlight the substantial number of threats posed by dredging.

VNPA has made submissions to both documents.

 

Port of Melbourne should cough up for bay dredging damage bill

Background briefing paper on Sponge Garden nomination (725kb pdf).

Federal nomination for protection of Port Phillip Bay's unique SpongeGardens (853kb pdf).