The sea won't wait

18/11/2021

Inverloch Surf Club. Photo: South Gippsland Conservation Society

By Leticia Laing

INVERLOCH Surf Beach is the beating heart of Inverloch and the main reason tourists go there to spend the tourism dollars our shire is so reliant on. The economic value of the beach to Inverloch has previously been estimated at $4 million per year but could be a lot higher.

To me and many others in our community, you can’t put a price tag on our coastlines and beach way of life.

Recent analysis by the South Gippsland Conservation Society’s Inverloch Coastal Resilience Project found that the coastline at Wreck Creek, west of the Surf Club, has receded by 70 metres since 2010 with about 2.8 hectares of dune vegetation having been swept away between Cape Paterson Road and the Surf Club.

The Cape to Cape Resilience Project aims to deliver a Coastal Hazard Assessment for Inverloch foreshore. However, the project is seen as a long-term approach to coastal protection and has no funding allocated for interim measures to mediate coastal erosion, nor does the project have funding allocated at its completion to deliver on its findings.

While the Assessment has been underway, a further eight metres of coastal foredunes have been eroded since February 2020. There has also been terminal scouring at the end of the rock wall at the Inverloch-Cape Paterson Road, which appears to have accelerated erosion at the adjacent Wreck Creek site.

This is an edited transcript of Cr Leiticia Laing’s introduction to her motion calling for the Bass Coast Mayor to express concern to Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio over delays in the Coastal Hazard Assessment and urge funding for temporary coastal protection works. The motion was passed unanimously at Wednesday’s meeting.

Should an extreme storm event occur in the next few months, the damage to Wreck Creek would not only see loss of an area of significant ecological value but would also leave Surf Parade and adjoining residences vulnerable.

This motion is not just about preserving Wreck Creek although that Creek is a vital part of the area’s local ecosystem. It is about holding the line until we have a good picture of how this erosion is going to unfold.

The community has expressed their frustration to me at the delays on finalising the Coastal Hazard Assessment and whether it can deliver on protecting that part of our coastline.

The community want some reassurance from our state and federal governments that when this assessment is completed, there will be some beach left to protect.

We are very grateful for the $1.15 million in funding from the State Government to do the assessment and for coastal protection works in front of the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club. It is evident that the geotextile protective barrier and sacrificial sand at that site has been working.

We are also grateful for the injection of funding from the Federal Government to protect other coastlines in our shire.

Council officers and stakeholders have worked hand in hand with the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning for this assessment and will continue to do so. I commend the State Government for undertaking this strategic work.

But it seems that we are but a few storm surges away from losing this vital part of our coastline and a key buffer for residences along Surf Parade.

While this key piece of work occurs the community need reassurance that goes beyond monitoring the loss of the coastline.

I urge councillors to support this motion to enable our Mayor to request both State and Federal Ministers to protect our beach and the beating heart of our community.

3 Comments

Neil Rankine

19/11/2021 07:02:17 am

Thing is, do you want to protect the beach, or access to park somewhere and look at the water. You'll keep the beaches if we let them find their own positions (which on average will be a bit further inland with sea level rise). There will be property losses to keep the beaches. The alternative is more and more built infrastructure to stop nature invading, you can have car parks on top to park and see the water, but beaches will progressively disappear to rock and concrete walls and bedrock swept of most of its sand cover. Given the value of the beaches, perhaps we should be buying out, or at least partially compensating, people who would loose their properties to keep beaches.

Ray McNamara

19/11/2021 05:26:23 pm

The erosion at the Inverloch surf beach is certainly occurring at a rapid rate and on a large scale. But, it is not the only part of the Bass Coast region that is suffering similar coastal transformation. Sites at Cowes, Rhyll and San Remo have seen large areas of beach either stripped of their sand dunes or submerged under new sand drifts. Similar eye-popping changes are occurring along large parts of the Great Ocean Road, particularly at Apollo Bay, Fairhaven and many others. The list of affected sites stretches right along the coastline of Australia. If these sites were not near houses, shops, roads or popular tourist spots they would go largely unnoticed. The common theme is that colonial settlements have occurred on or near land that is not stable and has been subject to changes in the past, and unfortunately due to rising sea levels, will be subject to more dramatic changes in then years ahead. For example, the average high tide level in Victoria has (almost imperceptibly) risen over 50mm since WW2, and nearly 75mm since the European incursion. And now, wave heights in storms are larger than they used to be. So, our coasts are undergoing attack from the oceans - predictably. The size and extent of areas under threat is immense. As Neil Rankine says, we can build stone/concrete walls to hold back the water, but this is a fairly ugly and non-beachy solution. This solution has been applied at San Remo to protect road access to Phillip Island and to protect properties facing the Western Port passage. But, there is not much beach left on those parts, and we do not know if it will come back, or whether it will come-and-go with the seasons. We do not have the knowledge to make those forecasts. But, we do know that the surf still rolls in at Inverloch, and it is still useable for that sort of recreation. All that has really changed is the pleasant rolling dune backdrop is now an escarpment. And, there is a lot more sand further east along the beach towards, and at, Anderson Inlet which is creating new beachside experiences (and some issues with blocking of the passage). So, the question becomes, not how do we stop erosion or shifting sands, but what, if any, manmade assets along the ocean frontages MUST be preserved for the sustainability of our communities. Once the community agrees on these matters, then a protection plan may/can be implemented. Also there are only a handful of people who understand coastal geomorphology in Victoria and Australia and who can assess, advise and resolve these matters. It is a huge problem for a country that has nearly 80% of its population living along the coastal fringes of our island. I have been studying these changes for the last 20 or more years, and the only conclusion I have reached is that relocation of structures, community assets and houses will be required if settlement areas are to remain viable .

Bruce Clifford Fergie

20/11/2021 11:49:32 am

Coastal dynamics (building and erosion of the shoreline) has been in action since the world began and will continue until the end .It is a natural and very much a cyclical process. Human interference in this process will cause the problems being faced worldwide and as much as we try to curtail the force of nature, the we more pale into insignificance. We need to realize that pouring vast amounts of money into projects which are aimed to foil the forces of nature are a waste of time and resources .Affected land owners and Public assets , such as roads may need to be relocated as they were probably located in the wrong place in the first instance. Recent weather events have demonstrated that Nature is a force not to be ignored or controlled.

The sea won't wait

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