Harbor Safety Alert:
Caution is advised for boaters in Clifton Springs Harbor with the heavy steep-bottomed shallow waters that have made it difficult to navigate in recent days. The City of Greater Geelong has raised a warning that suffocation plagues the entrance to harbor, where large amounts of seagrass wrack exists probably due to recent dredging.
Maintenance Dredging Efforts
Although this has permitted maintenance dredging to take place in the deepest parts of the access road (December 2022), the external area surrounding the bank entrance remains not dredged having shallow banks nearby. Over the past few years, the seagrass provision on the Bellarine Banks has shown a significant expansion and, thus, in these channels, the wrack composed of grass is being rolled out as wash loads, what is measured continuously.
Vigilance Urged for Vessel Operators
The warning, addressed to all vessel operators, is very strongly urged to be vigilant, especially at the moments of negative tides and when tide levels are predicted to fall below 0.4 meters. The most important is the utmost vigilance to avoid being run into by a ship or another speedboats so as not to get in danger.
Development of a Comprehensive Management Plan
The city is working on building and materializing a single dredging plan as the harbor facial expression for 10 years. This plan aims to work out the perfect depth of harbour and with this after a while we will be able to set a maintenance schedule or dredging strategies to sustain the already established depth.
Funding Allocation for Long-Term Solutions
The grant of $76 thousand by March the year before caters for a 25 year strategy. The phrase illustrates the base principles of the project, which is aimed towards dealing with the long-term issues of the Clifton Springs Harbor
Escalating Concerns and Increased Dredging
Shallower waters have become blocked to the vessel seekers in Clifton Springs and hence, mid-2021 onwards the frequency of dredging notices was increased to clear the sand and seagrass which piled up recently.
Past Dredging Operations
Beyond December’s maintenance dredging, the city have taken up harbor dredging in June, 2022 and in December, 2021. Similarly, the dredges run in the whole length of the harbor in line with a major maintenance dredging program undertaken in the same year.