Established by ACF with support from Environment Victoria and Waterkeepers Australia.

The Port of Melbourne Corporation’s channel deepening project has focused media and community attention on the health of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne’s recreational playground and home to a rich diversity of marine life.

The Victorian community has become concerned about the potential environmental impacts of the project on a remarkable community asset – Port Phillip Bay.

The BayMonitor Program is the community response to this concern and the need to promote the health of the bay and its importance to Victorians.

The BayMonitor Program will monitor the bay’s environmental values and provide:

• Independent, publicly and frequently available information to alert the community to changes in bay health.
• Community engagement to improve awareness, appreciation and understanding of Port Phillip Bay.
• Links to other monitoring programs in the Bay such as ReefWatch, Yarra Riverkeeper and SeaSearch.
• Tourism and education opportunities on the Bay.

The BayMonitor program included monitoring of water quality, turbidity, seagrasses, little penguins, sponge gardens at The Heads, sedimentation, and Yarra and Maribyrnong river mouths.

Compare the ACF with the Port of Melbourne Corporation monitoring

Download BayMonitor Field Manual (3Mb)

The Australian Conservation Foundation will manage and raise funds for a variety of worthy environmental causes.To make a donation you can call 1800 ACF NOW or go to www.acfonline.org.au/baymonitor.

The independent and scientific data collection interpretation and analysis of bay health was provided to ACF by scientists of Monash University and Australian Marine Ecology.

The scientists used Orca, a 15-metre vessel, as a live aboard research platform for periods of 1 – 7 days whilst undertaking 4-day circuits of the bay, gathering data at the monitoring sites.

Bay natural values
Port Phillip Bay has a rich marine biodiversity with many species found nowhere else. A combination of seagrass beds and meadows, sponge gardens, Ramsar-listed wetlands, sandflats, mudflats and subtidal and intertidal reefs are habitat for more than 300 species of fish and hundreds of species of molluscs, crustaceans, seaweeds and seahorses.

Bay social and economic values
As well as being a shipping port, Port Phillip Bay is home to a recreational dive sector, and significant commercial and recreational fishing and boating sectors. It is also the recreational playground for millions of Melburnians and visitors who enjoy swimming, sailing, beachcombing and diving in its waters.

Scientific credibility
The BayMonitor is an independent, science-based monitoring program for Port Phillip Bay conducted by Monash University scientists. It will initially monitor those values of Port Phillip Bay that could be impacted upon by channel dredging including water quality, seagrass beds, sponge gardens and the Yarra River mouth.

Monitoring bay health
Small business operators in Port Phillip Bay, such as dive operators and recreational fishing charter companies, as well as anglers, swimmers and divers rely on the good health of the bay and its marine life. The BayMonitor program could have provided an important source of bay health information for them, had it received greater funding.

Community
A well-resourced, community-based monitoring program wouldf give the community greater confidence that the effects of dredging and other bay threats are being properly investigated.

Local Government
Ten local councils are found on the shores of Port Phillip Bay. Their support for BayMonitor could have helped provide the information required towards a healthy bay for their communities.

BayMonitor activities
Dredging will stir up sediments and toxic materials, some staying in the water while others settle on seabed habitats. The BayMonitor was to follow the movement of these materials and their impacts on the bay’s natural values.

The dredge plume increases turbidity and reduces visibility and light. Reduced light hinders the growth of seagrasses, which are essential to the overall health of the bay and act as nursery areas for recreational and commercial fish species.

At The Heads there is a 100-metre-deep canyon with steep walls, sheltered caves, ledges and overhangs that are covered by a community of sponge gardens that scientists regard as unique. The BayMonitor program was to investigate the effect of the channel deepening project on the sponge gardens.

The BayMonitor’s satellite tracking of three little penguins and stomach-contents analysis of other colony members at St Kilda Pier could have helped identify the threats to this very special colony.

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