Nature ‘to blame for loss of beach’

Kim Waters
Nature rather than dredging is responsible for the disappearance of a Portarlington beach, according to a Victorian environmental watchdog.
The Office of the Environmental Monitor rejected an Australian Conservation Foundation claim in last week’s Independent that rising sea levels from dredging of Port Phillip Bay shipping channels had scoured away sand at the beach.
Office director Don Hough said Port of Melbourne Corporation’s channel deepening project had “no impact” on local beaches even though it had affected tide heights.
He attributed the beach erosion to natural sand movement and storms.
“Port Phillip Bay beaches change naturally and storms have a big influence,” Mr Hough said.
“Changes to the beach occur when the amount of sand moving parallel to the shoreline varies and as the sand moves back and forth between the beach and the deeper water just offshore.”
Mr Hough said the office’s analysis of data had found that high tides were 10mm higher and lows 10mm lower after the dredging project.
The conservation foundation last week hit out at State Government plans to restore the Portarlington beach with tonnes of quarried sand from another location, labelling it a “short-term solution to a long-term problem”.
Bellarine Foreshore Committee of Management received $80,000 of funding for refurbishment of Portarlington beach, with the design phase underway.