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 was the community response to this concern and the need to promote the health of the bay and its importance to Victorians.
The BayMonitor Program monitored the bay’s environmental values and provided:
- 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 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.
