Melbourne - Regional News - Water - January 2008

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31/01/08 Dredging: more heat on Brumby Royce Millar, Clay Lucas and Adam Morton, The Age Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

22/01/08 Dredging plan steams ahead, casting away public concern The Age, Editorial (Good Background ) Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

21/01/08 Scientists question Yarra toxic sediment AAP our highlighting Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

21/01/08 Toxic silt can be diluted to 'safe' levels Adam Morton, The Age our highlighting Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

19/01/08 Baillieu pushes check on bay dredge Clay Lucas, The Age; Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

19/01/08 New call to reveal safeguards Clay Lucas, The Age, Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

19/01/08 Anglers report 'sick' fish as Premier denies risk Matthew Burgess and David Rood, The Age - our highlighting Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

18/01/08 TOXIC SWILL NO PROBLEM FOR SHIPPERS, BLUE WEDGES MEDIA RELEASE Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

17/01/08 Deeply disturbing - Jeremy Loftus-Hills, The Age, Opinion Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08 Great Overview of economic imperatives and background -our highlights

17/01/08 JAPANESE TO RESCUE BAY BIRDS? BLUE WEDGES MEDIA RELEASE Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

16/01/08 D-day for bay as last legal hurdle falls Clay Lucas, The Age - our highlighting Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

15/01/08 Recycled water 'keeping Melbourne green' The Age, Melbourne, Jan 08

Water National 15/01/08 Bay dredge gets go-ahead Clay Lucas, The Age with AAP Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

11/10/08 Late court bid to block dredging Clay Lucas, The Age Melbourne, Jan 08; Port Phillip Video Link

Bats batty in the heat, while for humans it's the beach again Carolyn Webb and Nick Sheridan, with STEPHEN MOYNIHAN Melbourne, Jan 08; our highlighting

07/10/08 Melbourne water use down 16% ; Peter Ker, The Age Melbourne Jan 08

07/10/08 CHANNEL DEEPENING IS A BILLION DOLLAR WHITE ELEPHANT! BLUE WEDGES MEDIA RELEASE Port Phillip Jan 08; Melbourne, Jan 08

Anglers report 'sick' fish as Premier denies risk

Fisherman Tony Spiteri caught a whiting with blotches on its head. The Environment Protection Authority is investigating reports of seven fish species having lesions.
Photo: Joseph Feil

Latest related coverage

Matthew Burgess and David Rood, The Age - our highlighting
January 19, 2008

A FISHERMAN hooked a fish with strange blotches a day after authorities warned of lesion-bearing fish being caught in parts of Port Phillip Bay.

Anglers told The Age of some species — including whiting and flathead — that were caught recently that had unusual markings.

Fisherman Tony Spiteri noticed strange blotches on one whiting he caught near Altona yesterday. "It just had a red mark on top of its head, an inch round," Mr Spiteri said. "The edge of it looked a bit white."

On Thursday, the Environment Protection Authority said it was investigating reports of seven species — cobbler, blowfish, flathead, trevally, luderick, whiting and bream — caught with lesions on them in Hobsons Bay and Port Phillip Bay.

The Department of Primary Industries is also investigating.

The fish were caught between Port Melbourne and Werribee South.

The Department of Human Services warned people to avoid touching or eating fish that had lesions.

Mr Brumby said it was "ludicrous" to draw any connection between the fish problem and the planned dredging of Port Phillip Bay to deepen shipping channels.

Fisheries Victoria executive director Peter Appleford said outbreaks of lesions and lethargy among fish occurred every 10 to 15 years and a definitive cause might not be found for this week's reports.

He said tests had shown the lesions were not toxic.

"The bay acts like a big estuary so at the top end it is very dependent on freshwater flows, winds, currents, rainfall and temperature and sometimes you get a mix that stresses the fish out," Mr Appleford said.

"And once they get stressed, they tend to get sick, like we do."

Spiros Foscolos, food quality manager at the Melbourne Fish Market, said he had not seen any affected fish and there had been no complaints.

Mr Foscolos said most of the fish that came through the market was from Bass Strait or the deep waters off South Australia, Victoria and NSW.

"The amount of fish from Port Phillip Bay that comes into this market is negligible," he said.

"I had a look around the Victoria Market this morning and there was nothing there I could identify from the bay."

TOXIC SWILL NO PROBLEM FOR SHIPPERS

BLUE WEDGES MEDIA RELEASE

FRIDAY18TH JANUARY 2008 (first of 2)

"If dredging was to start soon, what we might end up with is a toxic swill, not fit for anything except sailing a supertanker through", says Jenny Warfe Blue Wedges spokesperson.

Recreational and commercial fishermen point to the recent decision to reduce environmental flow from the Yarra to supplement Melbourne’s water supply as a likely contributor to the current outbreak of lesions in several popular fish species. Drought conditions combined with deliberate reduction in environmental flows from the Yarra means higher pollutant and nutrient concentrations have entered the Bay, and then the food chain.

"EPA’s warning not to touch or eat fish found in the north of the Bay following multiple findings of fish - flathead, whiting, trevally and others with obvious lesions is a loud and clear warning call. Mr. Garrett and Mr. Brumby must call a halt to dredging and commission a full study into what might happen to the Bay if dredging, drought and deliberate reduction of environmental flow continues".

The big question is: What might be the outcome if a sustained dredging campaign in the Yarra, (removing 5 kms and 10 million cubic metres of riverbed) releasing the one hundred years of toxins currently trapped and relatively inert deep in the Yarra sediments is added onto the effects from drought and reduced environmental flow?

The Port of Melbourne Corporation has not considered cumulative impacts of drought, deliberately reduced environmental flow, release of toxins and sustained turbidity from dredging the Yarra. Eight months of dredging the Yarra will impose additional stresses on its ecosystems by orders of magnitude to what those ecosystems are already experiencing. Something is already wrong, obviously, and dredging is another stress on top, with unknown consequences, perhaps by orders of magnitude", says Jenny.

What’s more, the human health risk assessment commissioned by the PoMC relied on water samples taken from a minor maintenance dredging campaign, (using a smaller and different type of dredge to what PoMC plans to use in the Yarra) and which went nowhere near the Yarra, where the highest concentrations of toxins are. Even so, their inadequate assessment reveals that 100 people may become ill and 10 may develop a serious illness –which the PoMC rates as a "minor" and acceptable risk. "No-one I know thinks it is acceptable for 10 people to acquire a life threatening illness just so channel deepening can happen. Who would - other than the PoMC?" says Jenny.

Fishermen have commented that fish lesions are seen from time to time, but nothing like this has been seen since the last major drought which also coincided with when scallop dredging was banned in the Bay in the mid 1990's.

Hear it straight from the fishermen. Be at the Fishermen’s Hut, Vancouver Bait Supplies, end of Maddox Rd. Williamstown North (Mel 55 F8) at 3.00 PM today.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Mouth of Kororoit Creek, beautiful old fishing huts, wetlands

Blue Wedges spokespersons: John Willis 0407 053484

Jenny Warfe 0405 825769

Late court bid to block dredging

Clay Lucas, The Age
January 11, 2008

Video Link: - Video Last chance bid to save bay

Anti-dredging activists make a last ditch attempt in the Federal Court to stop the Port Phillip Bay project from going ahead. Underwater footage courtesy of Alan Beckhurst.(01:17 )

FEDERAL Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said for the first time that the $1 billion channel-dredging project he approved last month will cause a permanent rise in Port Phillip Bay's high tides.

Dredging opponents took Mr Garrett to the Federal Court yesterday in their final battle to stop the project going ahead on February 1. They argue the project has changed dramatically since it was first referred to the federal environment minister in 2002, because shipping channels would now be deepened by up to five metres — not the 1.5 metres to two metres first proposed.

Michael Morehead, the lawyer for the dredging's opponents, the Blue Wedges Coalition, argued that approving the project on an old report was like receiving a planning permit for a one-storey house but building a three-storey mansion.

The original application failed to mention "dredging", and the plan to dump 2 million cubic metres of toxic silt within the bay, Mr Morehead said.

Justice Peter Heerey said: "They have rather left out the elephant in the room: that they are going to deepen the channels."

The coalition's lone solicitor was hopelessly outnumbered, with nine lawyers — including four silks — appearing for Mr Garrett, the Port of Melbourne and the State Government.

The well-resourced legal team came prepared, wheeling in two full copies of the huge 12-volume, 15,000-page environmental effects statement.

They argued the Blue Wedges group had misread the act that controls approvals of environmentally damaging projects.

The 2002 application was adequate, and the $114 million spent since on environmental studies proved dredging would not permanently damage the bay, they argued. Any delay would cost the Port of Melbourne $253,000 a day.

Mr Garrett acknowledged that enlarging Port Phillip Bay's entrance would change the bay's tide levels. Enlarging the entrance to the bay will allow more water to pour in and out of the Heads.

Justice Heerey is expected to release his decision next week.

Bats batty in the heat, while for humans it's the beach again

Flying Foxes sweep over the Yarra River at Kew to cool down.
Photo: Pat Scala

Carolyn Webb and Nick Sheridan, with STEPHEN MOYNIHAN
January 11, 2008, our highlighting

MELBOURNE sweltered, regional areas cowered — and the state is braced for more today, as the bushfire season descended on Victoria.

A grass fire yesterday caused the first property loss of the summer when a shed was destroyed at Elaine, near Ballarat. The fire, which burnt 450 hectares, was contained by 8pm last night.

But firefighters feared the blaze may restart today, threatening the town of Morrisons, with northerly winds of up to 70 km/h expected and temperatures again reaching into the 40s.

A man in his 60s was working in a shed about 1.30pm when he heard several explosions and managed to escape as an adjacent shed, filled with hay, caught fire.

The man, who was not seriously injured, was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Meanwhile, a grass fire near Portland, in the state's far west, burnt about 100 hectares.

Today is a day of total fire ban in the north-west, south-west, central and north-east districts. It affects Melbourne as well as Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Wodonga, Warrnambool, Hamilton, Horsham, Swan Hill and Mildura.

Fire conditions would be extreme today, and people needed to be vigilant, said Kylie White, spokeswoman for the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

In Kew, the colony of grey-headed flying foxes have unusual ways of coping with extremely hot weather.

They skim the Yarra River surface, scooping water into their mouths and wetting their furry chests. They fly back to their upside-down roosts in low branches of eucalypt trees and wet their wings by rubbing their wet chests. By flapping their wings, they create a cool breeze to fan themselves and their young.

Perhaps their smartest move is somehow inducing humans to monitor them for heat stress.

DSE staff and three animal welfare volunteers were at Yarra Bend Park yesterday to ensure the 13,000-strong colony survived the heat. The DSE has been concerned that flying foxes may die from overheating on extremely hot days. Signs of dehydration include the bats panting too deeply, losing co-ordination, constantly holding their wings out wide, and huddling on the river bank.

Treatment options include spraying mists of water into the colony. If a bat falls out of a tree and does not recover, a veterinarian or wildlife carer is called and fluids are dropped into their mouths with a syringe.

Volunteer Ian Kitchen monitored the bats for five hours yesterday.

"Bats are valuable," he said. "They're great little creatures, but also they're very important to the ecology of the forest."

Melbourne's human population sought shelter in the water but also in air-conditioned homes and shops yesterday as the temperature slowly climbed to a peak of 41.2 degrees at 5.30pm.

It reached 42 in the state's north-west, at Hopetoun and Swan Hill.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Oliver Lemmel said that after an overnight maximum of 30 degrees, Melbourne's temperature would again climb to 40 at about noon today.

Ambulance spokesman Ray Rowe said people needed to drink plenty of fluids, keep cool and check on the elderly and infants. However, a cool change is due to sweep in early this afternoon, with the temperature expected to drop to the low 20s.

Paramedics yesterday treated 10 people for heat-related conditions.

St John Ambulance treated 22 spectators for heat-related injuries at the AAMI Classic tennis tournament at Kooyong, and 14 at the Australian Open qualifying rounds at Rod Laver Arena.

The extreme heat caused speed restrictions as rails expanded across the regional rail network. They are expected to continue today. Yarra Trams had no problems with yesterday's heat, but it can impound trams with faulty air-conditioning.

In the event of reduced power, Melbourne's tram fleet can operate using less voltage but run at slower speeds.

The heat has also attracted snakes, with the number of snake bites increasing across the state. Acting Premier Rob Hulls warned people to keep their grass short and take care around creeks.

RSPCA spokesman Ray Lord said animal inspectors had a "frantic day" with pets locked in cars and being left without water or shade.

with STEPHEN MOYNIHAN