The New Port and Cockburn Sound Are You One of Those People Who Still Thinks That for Fi Sh Attraction? Just a Thought
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2019 OCTOBER Chris Oughton, Director KIC The new port and Cockburn Sound Are you one of those people who still thinks that for fi sh attraction? Just a thought. moving the freight from Fremantle to a new port Mount Brown and the Beeliar Regional Park will alongside the Kwinana Industrial Area will have be damaged. The preferred Westport option is a devastating effect on Cockburn Sound? I don’t located south of Alcoa. The Regional Park is to the believe it will, and here’s why. north. The main freight road to service the land- Westport has said that the land-backed backed option will be Anketell Road. The Park will confi guration for the new port is currently ranked be just fi ne. fi rst out of all of the options. It’s located against The public beach and horse beach will be the shore south of Alcoa and north of the BP destroyed. Barter Beach is where the land-backed Kwinana Refi nery. port would be located. It is not a public beach, nor You can fi nd the assessment of the options at this is a formally recognised horse beach. There are website, and look for ‘Beacon # 7’. https://www. public beaches to the north and south, and you mysaytransport.wa.gov.au/westportbeacon can sometimes see horses in the water on beaches There are people saying that the shipping will near the grain terminal. There are options. destroy the environmental values of the Sound, Public beaches will go. KIC’s view is that there that the seagrass meadows will be devastated, that shouldn’t actually be any public beaches in the dolphins and penguins will starve, and that the industrial area because it’s about public safety. pink snapper fi shing and spawning grounds will Having said that, Wells Park and Challenger Beach be ruined. They say that the recreational uses of are the (only) two public beaches, and the new the Sound will be harmed, like fi shing and sailing, port wouldn’t affect them. and that land-side environmental values of the If the new port can be built so that it delivers net Beeliar Regional Park will be harmed. That’s a environmental, social, and recreational benefi ts pretty bleak picture they’re painting, and they are to Cockburn Sound, and there’s no reason why it wrong. Let’s take a look at why. can’t, why wouldn’t it be built sooner rather than They say the sea grass meadows in the Sound later? will be devastated. Wow! That’s a lot of seagrass If it has all sorts of spin-off benefi ts for the meadow to lose. Meadows are found from The ships will forever change the use of the the Sound have to stay in the channels, and they international competitiveness of the State’s Mangles Bay to Woodman Point and all the Sound. Really? Do they think Cockburn Sound move quite slowly. Realistically, it’s the jet skis Premier Industrial Area (which translates into more way out to the tip of Garden Island. Claiming is not already a busy freight port? We’ve all seen and speed boats that zoom around that injure the local jobs), why wouldn’t it be built sooner rather ‘devastation’ is a massive over reach. Apart from the ships out in the deep water moored up waiting Little Penguins. That’s what the evidence says is than later? widening the existing channel located to the north for their berthing slot. Fact: There are about the happening. west of Woodman Point, and maybe duplicating The new port in Kwinana is not a new idea, in same number of freight ships using the industrial Recreational uses will be badly affected. The it, what seagrass needs to be removed? If the new fact has been planned by governments and jetties in the Sound as there are using the docks channels already exist and the ships stick to them. port is an island out in Cockburn Sound, that will departments for well over 20 years. in Fremantle. Kwinana is already an active port The yachties already know how to navigate the cover seagrass, but if it is the land-backed option The new port in Kwinana has always been, for shipping, so rather than being new shipping, it channels and the ships. No issue there to be seen. it won’t, because there’s no seagrass against the and is, an inevitability. Once the McGowan would just be more of the same. coast. Industry prefers land backed options over The fi shing and spawning grounds will be Government makes its decision on port locations island options for all sorts of sensible reasons. Penguins and dolphins will be physically harmed destroyed. Remember, the Sound is already a busy and confi gurations early next year, let’s just get on Anyway, why can’t the project scope be widened and their food sources affected. Not sure how this port, and snapper fi sh stocks seem to be the best with doing it, and let’s make sure it is done really, to include seagrass replanting in suitable areas? I works. Penguin and dolphin food is found mainly they have been for years, don’t they? Perhaps the really well, and that the Sound is environmentally don’t see why not. where the seagrass is. The ships already using new port project could design in some new reefs better off. It can be done!. 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