Conditions at Port Melbourne beach tomorrow

The EPA advises that water quality will be poor at Port Melbourne beach tomorrow and swimming is not recommended.

Great Victorian Fish Count

Three fishing vessels [mere dots in this grey photo] near Port Melbourne Yacht Club caught my eye this morning - the fishing must have been good today. Between 3 and 18 December each year, Reefwatch conduct the Great Victorian Fish Count. 85% of the species found in Victoria's southern waters are found nowhere else in the world. The benefits of the count include species lists, suites of species, abundance of species and their distribution and range. You can see Victoria's extraordinary fish here on the Victorian National Parks Association website. There is probably noone who knows more about the fish in Port Phillip Bay than Dugga Beezley.

1st December - 1st official day of summer

Its been a wet start to the summer which affects water quality at our beaches from stormwater discharges. The EPA has improved its website and it is now quite easy to review the beach report to find out whether conditions are acceptable for swimming. Click here for the Beach Report and locate Sandridge and Port Melbourne. I will also put it on the links list. The No Butts No Cuts campaign will continue this year. Smoking and glass are not accepted on Port Phillip's beaches.

Getting out there to clean our beach

3207 Beach Patrol cleaned the beach between the Port Melbourne Yacht Club and Station Pier this morning. Most picked up items were bait bags revealed by the low tide, straws, cigarette butts, the film surrounding cigarette packaging and bottle tops.

World Oceans Day - Port Phillip Bay

Victoria's marine emblem - the weedy sea dragon amongst seagrass

Today is World Oceans Day. It is also a bitterly cold day in Melbourne when probably the last thing on your mind is going to the beach. All the same, Two Hands Project invites us to do two things today - not accept or use any single use plastic and spend 30 minutes and our two hands to clean our beaches. The tides relentlessly bring in new waves of litter every day regardless of the weather.

High tide leaves a mark on Sandridge Beach

Perce White Reserve, Sandridge Beach, 8 am

High tide was at 7.15 am [.8m] and the next high tide will be at 8.10 pm [.9m]

source: http://www.tides4fishing.com/au/victoria/melbourne This website is an amazing resource.

Rain gardens contribute to the health of Port Phillip Bay

The rain gardens in Dow St are almost complete and the beds have been planted. The next thing will be to see how these gardens work when it rains. This section of Dow St has now become like a constructed creek bed. The purpose of this extensive work is to allow stormwater to be filtered and cleaned through these beds before any excess makes its way into Port Phillip Bay.

Port's beaches

The extent, width and configuration of Port Melbourne's beaches has been changing since the earliest days of white settlement, and undoubtedly before that. Sand accretes in some places [such as this beach at Princes St] and decreases in others. New beaches have been created at Beacon Cove and at Sandridge over the last 15 years. Wind, coastal structures and other coastal processes also contribute to sand movement around Port Phillip Bay. There has been considerable public debate recently about changes to Port Phillip Bay's beaches. The Office of the Environmental Monitor [OEM]E, appointed to monitor the channel deepening project, commissioned a study on Port Phillip Bay's beaches. The author, Eric Bird, refers to the report of the Foreshore Erosion Board of 1936 to show that even at that date, authorities were wrestling with issues of foreshore erosion. There are several interesting references to Port Melbourne in the 1936 report which you can access from the website of the OEM here. Go to Port Phillip Bay beaches on the left hand menu. I am wondering whether it was this report which led to the construction of the concrete steps at Sandridge. Click here to see one of my favourite photos of the concrete steps in their heyday when they were a popular gathering place.

Raingarden

Following the heavy rains which have left their stormwater mark on our beaches, there has been some discussion about putting litter traps on council's stormwater drains. An alternative approach, a raingarden, is being installed on the corner of Dow and Beach St. A raingarden has the advantage of capturing litter and other pollutants before they even get to the beach and the bay - unlike at present when the stormwater gouges its litter laden way through the beach.

Port Melbourne beach conditions return to 'normal'

The signs have been removed. However, be aware that water quality remains 'poor' according to the EPA Beach Report.

Not a good day for swimming

Just wanted to let you know that the EPA forecasts that water quality at Port Melbourne and Sandridge Beach will be poor today following the rain and with more rain expected.

The EPA Beach Report explains more precisely what is meant by 'poor'.

Our beautiful Bay is taking a battering as sediment, litter and stormwater make their way from the Yarra and the streets of Melbourne into the bay.

Swimming areas

On this fine day when thoughts might turn to the beach, here is where jetskis are not allowed to go.

In Port Melbourne, there is NO BOATING

• in front of the Port Melbourne Life Saving Club between Lagoon Pier and Kerferd Rd Pier
• in front of the Sandridge Life Saving Club between the groyne and the alignmnet of Todd Road.

I recommend you look at the Parks Victoria brochure and map for clarity. Parks Victoria has the accountability for the safety of water users and control of vessel activities and is authorised under the Marine Act 1988 to issue infringement notices or prosecute people who break the law. The Victorian Water Police can also issue infringement notices and work in partnership with Parks Victoria on Port Phillip to ensure the bays are used safely. Parks Victoria's number is 13 1963

The zones are also clearly signed on land and with yellow Xs in the water.

Beautiful day

On this first sunny day [that was yesterday] we have had in ages, everything looked beautiful and fresh.

This rather poor picture shows the vessel Enterprize, a replica of the first vessel to navigate the Yarra River in 1835.

The replica was build at the Polly Woodside yard in the 1990s and is based at Williamstown. She is used for bay trips and often sails across Bass Strait for special events. Besides the sails, she is also motorised so as to keep to schedules.

Whale sighting

Did you see whales in the bay today? Read a report here from people living in Beacon Cove who did.

Shark in the shallows at Beacon Cove beach

photograph by Philip Linacre

photograph by Philip Linacre

photographs by Philip Linacre

Photographs of what unfolded at Beacon Cove beach on Saturday.

Clean Up near Lagoon Pier

The evidence of a clean up at Port Melbourne beach. Thank you to those people.
I acknowledged a woman with her dog on the beach this morning who was picking up litter as she walked, and she said 'well .. it's our beach'.

Clean Up Australia Day at Sandridge

Sandridge Beach was significantly cleaner than at the same time in 2009.*
There was very little large litter around. Most of it was small pieces: cigarette butts, bread ties, straws and fragments of plastic.

The worst places were the fishing areas where bait bags, fishing line and other litter was abundant.

The focus of this year's Clean Up is our bays and waterways.
Ian Kiernan, the inspirational founder of Clean Up Australia Day, asks people to pick up [Just 1] piece of litter each day.

* See last year's post 1st March 2009