Blue Wedge

So one "big" ship has pulled into port since channel deepening ended, but other than 3,000 container loads of plasma TVs and plastic furniture, what has the $1 Billion mega dredging project actually delivered for Victorians?

Image Caption: Near the Entrance before dredging ©Seapics 2006

Damage to unique habitats

Where over 100 sponges are found nowhere else on earth and right next to Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park, around 9,000 tonnes of rock crashed down the 90 metre Canyon Wall. Falling rock damaged brilliant corals, sponges, marine life and acres of important habitats and many of these unique sponges could take hundreds of years to regrow. Large chunks of mobile rock are still damaging marine habitats as they churn around in fast moving currents at The Entrance. Even the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) admits mobile rocks continue to pose shipping hazards. Would we tolerate this level of destruction on land? You'd have to ponder the morality of destroying organisms that exists nowhere else on earth wouldn't you?

Rock debris at Entrance Post dredging 2008 © A. Beckhurst

Unprecedented recent erosion

The enlarged Entrance means more water flows in and out of the Bay on each tide - high tides are higher and low tides lower. PoMC predicted a one cm change in tides, saying changes are imperceptible and no impacts will result.

One cm increase doesn't seem like much, but dredging increased water levels swiftly - the few months it took to remove rocks from the Entrance. Global warming induced sea level rise is around 2- 4mm per year , so the dredging related one centimetre increase is equivalent (and additional) to several years of the (more gradual) global warming induced SL rise. As water rises, it spreads (on flat land generally at the ratio of 1:100 ) so just one cm rise can mean up to 1 metre inundation of the coastline. What's more, as storm surges increase with global warming, more water in the Bay means more water hitting the coastline eroding sandy shorelines. You'd have to wonder why government would deliberately add to the unwanted impacts of global warming SL rise.

Beaches are changing rapidly say bay watchers; adamant that PoMC underestimated changes to water levels, especially in the South. Portsea residents and businesses are alarmed at how quickly their iconic beach is disappearing and Portsea pier low landing is now regularly underwater. A stroll from the Portsea Pub to the beach was a lovely way to end the day, but now you are more likely to disappear into the void.

Once there were trees...and shade!

Watch the last step, it's a doozy!

Watch your step mate!
All above taken in front of Portsea Pub 16th March 2010 ©J. Warfe

Walking the dog on Blairgowrie Beach now involves rock climbing.

Blairgowrie Dog Walking Beach August 2009 © A. Lewins

A toxic dump in perpetuity

Perhaps worst of all, we now have a monstrous 6 sq. km underwater toxic dump in the Bay, where up to 7 million tonnes of toxic sludge from Yarra River dredging is being dumped. Toxins including arsenic, lead, mercury, TBT, cadmium, cyanide, PCBs, pesticides and possibly radionuclides - a legacy of the little known shipment and processing of uranium at Fishermen's Bend from the 1940s to the 1960s. Nor is it over. Dredging and dumping of Yarra sludge did not stop when the channel deepening project concluded, but has continued as "maintenance" dredging. The underwater dump is constructed from clay dredging from the Williamstown channel, itself contaminated - but not too badly according to the PoMC. Unlike other toxic waste facilities in the state, the underwater dump is not regulated and has no limits on annual or volumes. You'd have to wonder........ Has it all been worth it?

And what of this "big" ship, China Shipping Lines' Xin Yan Tai? A visitor we could not have had without channel deepening Mr. Brumby proclaimed, contorting the language to suit the message. "At her current capacity the ship could not have visited Melbourne before, as the port was previously constrained to a draught of 11.6 metres..." without saying what depth it actually drew on arrival into Melbourne. Interestingly, when Xin Yan Tai arrived in Melbourne with its load of Chinese imports it drew only 10.1 metres - it didn't need the extra depth provided by channel deepening at all!

It's pretty obvious Xin Yan Tai wasn't fully loaded, contrary to what Mr. Brumby and the PoMC would have us believe. It's usual for vessels to unload at other ports along their route, as this one did at Botany.

It seems the "first big ship" story was more about justifying yet another piece of clunky, over-priced, underutilized, infrastructure, reliant on the business as usual mindset to deliver its supposed benefits - just like DeSal and the NS pipeline.

Although Xin Yan Tai may be taking some of our exports to the world, sadly our largest export is now empty containers , testament to our addiction to consumer goods, and well illustrated by the skyscrapers of empty containers growing around Todd Road/Westgate Freeway. Nobody wants them.

Pollution from shipping causes thousands of deaths per year around the world. US Environment Protection Authority
estimates 60,000 per year in the US alone, and US legislation now limits shipping emissions near shore. Not so in Australia.
Do we need this right in the middle of our city? ©P. Crotty

It's time for an ethics based assessment of how much we need, who we trade with and what we trade in. Then we can work out a solution that fits the future needs of the planet and all who live on it.

Ah, fresh air! Off Dromana October 2009 © J. Warfe