- Published on
By Neil Daly
IN RESPONSE to my article Holding back the tide, I received a letter from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
Written on behalf of Steve Dimopoulos MP, the Minister for Environment, the letter touches on the Allan Labor government’s approach to the environmental problems facing Victoria’s coastal communities.
In part it states: “I would like to thank you for sharing your Bass Coast Post article, ‘Holding back the tide’, which considers if the Queensferry area should be left to revert to a former state rather than see the continuation of mangrove investments to mitigate erosion impacts.
IN RESPONSE to my article Holding back the tide, I received a letter from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).
Written on behalf of Steve Dimopoulos MP, the Minister for Environment, the letter touches on the Allan Labor government’s approach to the environmental problems facing Victoria’s coastal communities.
In part it states: “I would like to thank you for sharing your Bass Coast Post article, ‘Holding back the tide’, which considers if the Queensferry area should be left to revert to a former state rather than see the continuation of mangrove investments to mitigate erosion impacts.
“This line of questioning aligns with the Coastal Adaption Planning process outlined in Victoria’s Resilient Coast – Adapting for 2100+. Any intervention in coastal environments has pros and cons that can lead to impacts elsewhere, so land managers follow an adaptive or pathways approach to get the facts before committing to any one option.
"Authorities consider management options in the following order:
“Land managers use independent coastal and geotechnical engineers to assess natural processes impacting an area and identify all variable options. This information gathering process can take time but is an important step to ensure land managers can make the right decision and implement the most appropriate option.”
"Authorities consider management options in the following order:
- Non Intervention – allow marine and coastal processors to occur
- Avoid – proactively locate new uses or development away from the impact area
- Nature-based protection – such as sand management, or restoring or enhancing natural features
- Accommodate – by designing structures to accommodate the risk and reduce exposure to, or decrease impact
- Retreat – potentially decommission or relocate existing structures, assets or uses that may be negatively impacted
- Protect – enhance or construct physical barriers to mitigate impacts. Physical structures such as groynes and sea walls are considered a last option.
“Land managers use independent coastal and geotechnical engineers to assess natural processes impacting an area and identify all variable options. This information gathering process can take time but is an important step to ensure land managers can make the right decision and implement the most appropriate option.”
What comfort this information may be to those at Inverloch, Silverleaves or Warneet, for example, I’ll leave for them to judge.
When it comes to Queensferry, there is no attempt to address its future. It would seem its “ghosts of the past” will have to wait for somebody to identify the “most appropriate option”. However, I imagine it will remain in the too hard basket for years to come. Eventually, nature will have its way.
Conversely, I was surprised to read, “The CoastCare Victoria Program recently funded an experimental mangrove restoration project led by the Western Port Seagrass Partnership to plant 1,000 mangrove seedlings across a 2-hectare site near Grantville.”
There was no attempt to justify why this mangrove work was being undertaken, if its outcome was successful, if further works were planned, or if it was the solution to stemming Grantville’s foreshore erosion and protecting its growing infrastructure.
From what I know, this project is being undertaken in an open and exposed foreshore site where, despite 20 years of effort and experimental planting methods, very few mangroves have survived. It stretches about 3.5 kilometres from the Grantville pier to the beginnings of the flourishing natural mangrove stand at Pioneer Bay.
Conversely, I was surprised to read, “The CoastCare Victoria Program recently funded an experimental mangrove restoration project led by the Western Port Seagrass Partnership to plant 1,000 mangrove seedlings across a 2-hectare site near Grantville.”
There was no attempt to justify why this mangrove work was being undertaken, if its outcome was successful, if further works were planned, or if it was the solution to stemming Grantville’s foreshore erosion and protecting its growing infrastructure.
From what I know, this project is being undertaken in an open and exposed foreshore site where, despite 20 years of effort and experimental planting methods, very few mangroves have survived. It stretches about 3.5 kilometres from the Grantville pier to the beginnings of the flourishing natural mangrove stand at Pioneer Bay.
Pre-2023 experimental mangrove plots north of the Grantville pier.
Harking back to the sequential “management options”, I wondered how much longer it would take for the “pros and cons” to be evaluated by the undisclosed land managers dealing with Grantville’s foreshore problems, and if the time had come to consider alternative measures such as groynes, for the nature-based mangrove approach seems doomed.
For whatever reason, the Allan Labor government seems fixated with this project, which started in January 2023. It is mentioned in the Minister for Environment’s answer to a Question on Notice by the Victorian Greens in July this year regarding mangrove mitigation works along the eastern arm of Western Port.
While the Minister’s reply to the parliamentary question and the letter to me are non-committal, it does open up the discussion. With a state election next year, now may be the time to ask all candidates how they would deal with erosion and the risk of coastal flooding and inundation along Victoria’s vulnerable coastline.
I can report that The Nationals, at a state level, have responded to my article, but as in all previous attempts to interest the Victorian Liberals in environmental matters, the leadership team has little to say. Hopefully, the new Leader of the Opposition may get things moving, for a policy statement would be helpful.
The Victorian Greens have been supportive, as evidenced by their parliamentary question.
Whether any party will pick up on the climate change adaption issues affecting Western Port’s foreshore is yet to be seen. So far, it seems MPs are more concerned with their own electoral longevity. Galvanising them to take collective action to help coastal communities adapt to the changes coming their way continues to be an uphill battle.
Footnote: Following up a question arising from my previous article, RMIT’s Centre for Nature Positive Solutions has agreed to release a copy of their Queensferry research data. I’ll alert Post readers to this, once it’s published.
For whatever reason, the Allan Labor government seems fixated with this project, which started in January 2023. It is mentioned in the Minister for Environment’s answer to a Question on Notice by the Victorian Greens in July this year regarding mangrove mitigation works along the eastern arm of Western Port.
While the Minister’s reply to the parliamentary question and the letter to me are non-committal, it does open up the discussion. With a state election next year, now may be the time to ask all candidates how they would deal with erosion and the risk of coastal flooding and inundation along Victoria’s vulnerable coastline.
I can report that The Nationals, at a state level, have responded to my article, but as in all previous attempts to interest the Victorian Liberals in environmental matters, the leadership team has little to say. Hopefully, the new Leader of the Opposition may get things moving, for a policy statement would be helpful.
The Victorian Greens have been supportive, as evidenced by their parliamentary question.
Whether any party will pick up on the climate change adaption issues affecting Western Port’s foreshore is yet to be seen. So far, it seems MPs are more concerned with their own electoral longevity. Galvanising them to take collective action to help coastal communities adapt to the changes coming their way continues to be an uphill battle.
Footnote: Following up a question arising from my previous article, RMIT’s Centre for Nature Positive Solutions has agreed to release a copy of their Queensferry research data. I’ll alert Post readers to this, once it’s published.
Comments are closed.
I agree that the best thing the rest of us can do to support you and your calls to action, is to put pressure on all candidates to clarify their policy position and exactly what actions they would take, if elected. No vague statements/promises but clear plans, timelines, expected outcomes etc. I'm sure you could assist if they asked for help ...
Let’s hope we can inspire our community at the next State election to be passionate about participatory democracy, climate action and transparency.
Thank you for your question. From what I understand, groynes do “starve the “downdrift” side of sand” and in some situations, there may be a need to undertake beach nourishment measures to reduce the negative downdrift impacts. However, in some situations, groynes can be an effective means of reducing erosion.
This issue, along with other measures to counter Grantville’s erosion problems, were studied by Oldfield Consulting (2010) and Water Technology Pty Ltd (2011) and reported to the Department of Sustainability and Environment - now known as the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA). One imagines, these long-gone reports are safely tucked away.
In September 2017, the then Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) - currently DEECA, drafted a proposal: “Coastal Protection Plan for Grantville”. To the best of my knowledge, it’s still in draft form.
In 2018, via The South Gippsland Sentinel-Times (Tuesday, July 24, 2018), DELWP announced an erosion solution was on the horizon for it was all about to change for Grantville if it could meet the funding caveat. “This is a competitive state-wide process and the Grantville project will be assessed against other projects across the state.” The DELWP representative went on to say, “A final community session for the Grantville community is planned to be delivered in the August/September. Details regarding the session will be released by DELWP shortly.”
I believe, we are still waiting for this “community session” and it seems nothing much has changed since November 1996 when The South Gippsland Sentinel-Times headline announced, “Erosion anger at Grantville – Locals demand remedial action”.
Apart from the Western Port Seagrass Partnership’s ongoing efforts to grow mangroves, it seems the “Authorities” continue to ignore Grantville and may have decided that a “Non-Intervention” approach is the best course of action.
With the demise of the Grantville Foreshore Reserve Committee in 2023, maybe it is time the Grantville Business and Community Association took up the matter, for there may come a time when inundation issues start to affect Grantville’s infrastructure along its low-lying foreshore.
Danny’s comment, seems to sum up the situation: “The reality is that coastlines are mobile by nature and it is only European land tenure and its survey pegs that have brought the need to control it. I suspect insurance, more consequential than govt policy, will likely change our approach to land use in the littoral zones.”
https://www.preventionweb.net/news/how-chinas-most-futuristic-city-restored-its-mangroves
https://sustainabletravel.org/mangrove-forests/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/expatshuahin/posts/1703997276633318/
https://www.unesco.org/en/mab/mangres
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/destinations/7-most-famous-mangrove-tours-from-around-the-world/photostory/116890267.cms
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X18306602
https://blog.nature.org/2019/07/02/the-overlooked-tourism-value-of-mangroves/
https://www.oneearth.org/six-projects-restoring-vital-mangrove-forests-around-the-world/
https://cuddalore.nic.in/tourist-place/pichavaram/
They successfully weld eco, tourism and grand designs. If the business case is made, it might just tick the right boxes in the right places here in Vic.?
Its environmental and economic wellbeing needs to be safeguarded by a legislated strategic management plan founded on sustainable business practices.
With Western Port Seagrass Partnership gaining a Grant to plant an experimental planting of mangroves - it would be interesting to find out what method will be used to plant this year.
Data needs to be collated from all mangrove plantings so far and then a long term strategy in place. As you mentioned Neil - possibly groynes.
Picking up on your point if “continual erosion is to be resolved”, reminds me of the attempts to protect Grantville’s foreshore with ‘man-made’ structures:
• Sea wall: Malcolm Drive to Deep Creek (1974). No longer as first constructed. Fragmented and left to fend for itself, it’s not serving its original purpose.
• Sea wall: Colbert Creek to north side of Pier Road. Still viable.
• Large rocks acting as a sea wall: south side of Pier Road extending to the Grantville Jetty. Recently, more rocks have been added doubling its height to ensure the car park, toilet block and nearby infrastructure, will, for the time being, be protected.
• Geotextile sand filled bags: south side of the jetty. Placed close to the shore to protect hand planted mangroves. Dates back many years with a few remnant / natural mangroves struggling to survive. Has not lived up to expectations.
• Concrete pods stretching from the end of Malcolm Drive to the mangroves at Pioneer Bay. The University of Melbourne’s “Nature-based Coastal Defences” project. January 2020. Initially, 1,476 mangrove seeds planted in and outside of the pods. Few mangroves have survived. The 200 pods are still in place.
Along with the various mangrove projects, Grantville is an interesting case study. Now with the Pier Road sea wall being raised, is this a sign of what’s to come or as Danny indicates, will insurance companies eventually ‘draw a line in the sand’?
Grantville’s survival and other low-lying Western Port areas such as Tooradin are a challenge, worthy of asking, as Neil Rankine suggests, is there a politician who can come up with a lateral solution?
Western Port is in urgent need of a comprehensive management plan and funding to undertake world’s best practice technologies, like marine spatial planning to determine what its fragile ecosystems can, and cannot support without the loss and degradation of recent decades.
The Western Port Biosphere foundation and local environmental groups like Save Westernport have collaborated to develop the Western Port Management Framework, to guide the long term management and wise use of its resources.
It’s time for the Victorian government to right past mistakes, by adopting the Framework without delay.
Read the Framework and sign up to support its implementation at https://www.actforwesternportbay.au/