Just another day on the beach at Observatory Point, pondering the ongoing erosion that accelerated around the same time Portsea beach disappeared. It's a funny old world when massive and costly coastal erosion coincides with deepening the shipping … [Read more...]
Plant local natives for a healthy Bay
Local native plants provide wildlife habitat, prevent soil erosion and filter excess nutrients out of streams that flow to the Bay; and they don't need pampering with extra water and fertiliser! What's not to like about 'em? Probably the only … [Read more...]
Bay champions – taking it to the world
If there's one thing as priceless as our amazing Bay, it's the inspirational and resourceful people who put their heart and soul into caring for it. Philippa Rayment's little doco on the launch of Freddie Leong's book 'Underwater Wonders of … [Read more...]
Singing for the Saltmarsh
Saltmarshes on the western shores of Port Phillip Bay provide important habitat for endangered Orange-bellied Parrots and a host of other fascinating plants and animals. These Singing Honeyeaters were recently sighted in saltmarsh shrubland at … [Read more...]
Beach medicine – so good for you!
A stroll along the beach at sunrise can make your day. So its no surprise that many people want to keep it that way.... just cos! There's growing evidence of the health benefits of spending time with nature. The Healthy Parks Healthy People … [Read more...]
Wake up Australia, there’s a whole lotta litter goin’ on!
Litter in waterways is not just visual pollution. International studies have found fragments of plastic frequently mistaken for food by diving and surface-skimming seabirds. The Melbourne Parks & Waterways 'Tagged Litter Report' (1993) … [Read more...]
Revised method to age Anchovy
The Baywide Anchovy Study Milestone Report #1 (2008) caused great concern when it found a total absence of first year Anchovies in Port Phillip Bay. This lead to speculation that Anchovy recruitment had failed in 2008, with potentially dire … [Read more...]
ST KILDA PENGUIN BACK IN THE SWIM
No doubt about it... there is a fine line between pleasure and pain. Just ask the St Kilda penguin found recently stranded on land with fishing line wound tightly around its leg.... it's hard to go to work and find a fishy feed if you're tied to a … [Read more...]
Channel Deepening CEO: misreported or misinformed?
Port of Melbourne Corporation CEO Stephen Bradford, was reported in Port Phillip Leader (February 10, 2009) as saying: "The contaminated material that was required to be moved by the large dredging vessels has all been removed. It has been in that … [Read more...]
Shoreline litter surveys
It's amazing how much junk finds its way to our Bay, so much so that we've come to see it as 'normal'... and if it's normal it must be OK, right??? Hmmm... maybe not! Take a stroll along the shore and imagine what it would be like if the junk … [Read more...]
Information Underload
Lots of fascinating facts have been compiled in the Channel Deepening environmental investigations. Unfortunately, the study of past industrial uses which might have contributed contaminants to the Yarra sediments did not note that 506 Lorimer … [Read more...]
