NEWS DESK
Dredging ‘may help’ pest seastar Stephen Taylor steve@mpnews.com.au
INVASIVE northern Pacific seastras are among the marine creatures ending up on McCrae beach during dredging.
AN extra $400,000 is being spent on a business case to expand the TyabbSomerville recycled water irrigation scheme to Pearcedale. Flinders MP Greg Hunt says the new investigation is being paid for by the federal government, Mornington Peninsula Shire and South East Water. If proved economically viable and then built, the project will see class A recycled water from the Eastern Treatment Plant made available to farms in Tyabb, Somerville and Pearcedale. Statistics for 2019 on the National Outfall Database show that the south eastern outfall at Boags Rocks, near Gunnamatta, services the Eastern, Mount Martha, Somers, and Boneo treatment plants, discharging about 350 ML (dry weather) and 1700 ML (wet weather) of treated effluent daily into Bass Strait. Mr Hunt said the federal government had given $200,000 and the shire and SEW $100,000 each towards the expanded study. The investigation was aimed at confirming demand for the water across the Pearcedale agricultural area; undertaking functional design and costing for the Pearcedale reticulation network; and, updating the economic model and detailed business case to include Pearcedale in the scheme. The scheme is aimed at improving water security for agriculture, support crop rotation, new land irrigation and extra economic activity, provide up to 2400 ML a year of climate independent affordable water, and support an estimated $50-$60 million in agricultural production. Details: nationalwatergrid.gov.au Keith Platt
FSA/DET0016-03
ENVIRONMENTAL activist Josie Jones, of Rye, got into more than the spirit of things when she removed 5738 northern Pacific starfish from off McCrae beach last week. “It was a great feeling to remove the pests from Port Phillip,” Ms Jones said after the clean-up, Sunday 23 May. “I worked out that it was nearly a wheelie bin-full and I needed someone to help me push my bin to the kerb.” The northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) is described at marinepests.gov.au as a large, aggressive predator of native species, including oysters, mussels and scallops. Ms Jones believes the starfish are moving south towards Rosebud, Rye, Blairgowrie, Sorrento and Portsea. However, she asks that they only be removed if they have been accurately identified. “If you remove them, put them into general waste bins, wear gloves and report your collection to Parks Victoria or the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.” There are concerns dredging by DELWP of 20,000 cubic metres of sand to replenish McCrae beach may be contributing to the starfishes’ proliferation. DELWP said the works were designed “to avoid impacting any marine values and coastal vegetation” (“Denial over ‘threat’ to marine life”
The News 19/4/21). “Our marine biodiversity and natural environment team experts have confirmed there are no specific concerns relating to the project with regards to land-based coastal vegetation, the reef, or the plants and animals that inhabit it,” Port Phillip regional director Stephen Chapple said. Long-time beach users reported that marine creatures were being “shredded” by the dredging machines. Ms Jones said rather than harming the starfish this may help them regenerate and proliferate and disseminate thousands of eggs. “Dredging has been linked to the redistribution of the starfish in the past,” she said. “I suspect the McCrae outbreak came from the dredge. “We need to find out where the [dredging] pipes are now.”
Water study grows
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Mornington News
1 June 2021
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