Coast at risk
The coastline is under threat of overdevelopment, according to a report from Victorian National Parks Association.
And that includes the shores of South Gippsland and Bass Coast.
The association is calling for strong and comprehensive policies from all political parties ahead of this year’s state election to avoid the impacts of a new wave of development washing over Victoria’s 2000km coastline.
The report highlights that climate change as well as coastal, urban, port and industrial development driven by rapid population growth are eroding what we love about our coasts.
“Victorians love their rugged coastlines and seaside towns but the very landscapes that make summer holidays in this state so special are being transformed by development encouraged and approved by successive state governments,” VNPA marine spokesperson Simon Branigan said.
“The rate of coastal urban sprawl over the past 20 years is alarming. We now face new pressures such as major port expansions at Western Port and Port Anthony, a breakwater at Mallacoota’s Bastion Point, the spread of coastal towns, and the opening up of national parks along the coast to large-scale commercial tourism developers.”
The Coast is Unclear is the first report of its kind to document coastal planning and management issues along the entire length of Victoria’s coastline.
The report looked at coastal areas including the Bass Coast and Wilsons Promontory.
“Endangered animals such as the Burrunan Dolphin, Eastern Bristlebird, Fairy Tern, Orange-bellied Parrot and the Southern Bent-wing Bat rely on healthy coastal habitat for survival,” Mr Branigan said.
“These rapidly diminishing areas are also needed to help protect endangered plant species including the Bellarine Yellow-gum, Coast Dandelion, Coast Tobacco and Metallic Sun-orchid.
“Clearly we need a new vision and comprehensive coastal policy that protects Victoria’s remaining coastal nature and ensures we do not love our coastline to death.”
The report recommends the establishment of a number of new and expanded parks, including Corner Inlet-Nooramunga Coastal Park.
The report finds that successive Victorian governments have contributed to the creation of a complex, disintegrated and ineffective coastal planning and management framework that has been unable to stop the squeeze on coastal nature.
Its findings include:
- of the 95 habitats found within 500m of the shoreline more than 70 per cent are either endangered or vulnerable, including Coast Banksia Woodland and Estuarine Wetland;
- threatened coastal habitats have become fragmented and vulnerable to pressures such as invasive plants and animals, grazing, intensification of land use in adjacent rural areas and altered coastal processes;
- the urbanised coast has expanded by 15 per cent over the past 20 years and now covers 311km – about 17 per cent of Victoria’s coastline; and
- future population growth, urbanisation and climate change will be the key drivers of future declines in Victoria’s coastal nature.
In a state election year the VNPA is calling on all political parties to release comprehensive coastal and marine policies in the lead-up to the state election in November.
The Coast is Unclear was commissioned by the Victorian National Parks Association to generate public discussion on improving the conservation of coastal nature and reform of Victoria’s coastal planning, protection and management framework, and to provide input into the new Victorian Coastal Strategy.
The report calls for an expanded park at Corner Inlet.
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