Dredging not over at all!
As much as we would like to say the dredges have gone, it’s simply not true! In spite of the Queen of the Netherlands leaving the Bay, dredging is still well and truly underway – and will be for a long time to come
You could be forgiven for thinking that it was over if you were inclined to believe the media hoopla last week. unimportant and irrelevant departure of the Queen of the Netherlands. The media was treated to another tour of the Queen prior to its departure and the print and electronic media was live with stories like “Job done, dredger ready to leave” (The Age 19/8). What wasn’t even mentioned in these hyped up stories was that the (not insubstantial dredge) Cornelis Zanen (CoZa) is still here, and is still dredging down south.
Such verve and energy from Mr. Brumby and the PoMC talking up the
Believe your own eyes, not the media! CoZa is still on the job 31st August 2009
On TV news on 19th August, Mr. Brumby opined that the channel deepening project had been exemplary in its environmental credentials. Critics of the project have been proved wrong he said, and those critics were people who “should have known better”.
Then, on 26th August, several days after the media flurry about dredging being “over”, The Age revealed a just released report on extensive damage to sponge gardens since dredging at the Entrance. Extensive rockfall, not predicted by the PoMC, was found to have ''blanketed a considerable portion of the reef'' between 37 and 57 metres underwater, with many large boulders still visible and unstable. See: Dredging damage mocks Premier's praise
But not a peep has been heard from Mr. Brumby or the PoMC about this important story in the media! It appears they are more than happy to call press conferences to talk about irrelevant and unimportant aspects of the project – like one of the dredges leaving – but they are not so happy to comment on important issues like extensive irreparable damage to our unique underwater canyon. What a difference a few days makes.
What no one at the PoMC or in state government is willing to announce is that maintenance dredging is now ready to start. Following a referral to the Federal government quietly slipped in by PoMC back in June, a further two years of dredging is about to commence. Dredging until 2011 will be mainly in the Yarra, and using much of the equipment used in the major project – including an unnamed Trailing Suction Hopper Dredge (TSHD) – the same sort as the Cornelis Zanen which is still dredging near the south channel as we write. The Yarra dredge spoil will again be dumped in the toxic dump in the Bay.
And as the sun sets on Monday 31st August, the CoZa is still dredging away down South.
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