Home

The Port of Melbourne Corporation has advised that it is applying for State and Federal approval for a 10 year “maintenance” dredging program in Port Phillip Bay, from 2012 to 2021. From the information so far available, it seems that dredging will occur in all channels dredged during the Channel Deepening project- including the North and South of the Bay, Yarra River and The Entrance, and for up to 15 weeks of each and every year.

Maintenance dredging started in the Yarra almost as soon as the Channel Deepening project “finished” in late 2009 and PoMC announced it was complete earlier this year. Now it's about to start again, so there's been little break from dredging since the project started in February 2008. No wonder PoMC was so keen to ensure that maintenance dredging was not assessed as part of the Channel Deepening EES, thus ensuring that the public was ill informed on the length of time the Bay would be exposed to disturbance - well into the future and probably forever more. 

We also seem to recall PoMC being very adamant during the EES hearings that they understood the dangers and sensitivities of dredging The Entrance. Part of their justification for deepening it so much was so that they would never need to risk dredging there again.

Every toddler at the beach soon learns that once you dig a deeper hole you’ve got to keep digging harder and harder to maintain its depth. So, it seems we’ll have that unwanted guest the Queen of the Netherlands or her stable mates in the Bay for a good proportion of every year for the next 10 years and no doubt beyond.

PoMC is conducting “information” sessions around the Bay, starting tonight (Monday 10th October) in Rosebud.

If you want to hear some soothing words from the PoMC, here’s their timetable: