Bay Swim A Stroke Against Dredging Proposal

The Age

Wednesday October 17, 2007

Clay Lucas, City Reporter

WHEN open-water swimmer Chloe McCardel dives into 13-degree waters off Mornington jetty to begin a 50-kilometre protest swim, the chill won't be her worry.

"Most of the swim I'll be verging on hypothermia," says McCardel, who trained at Brighton all winter. She says her chief concern is the potential effect of the Port of Melbourne Corporation's $763 million plan to deepen Melbourne's shipping channels by two metres.

With Planning Minister Justin Madden poised to give the project approval by the end of this month, dredging could begin in January and continue until late 2009.

McCardel, 22, is so angry about the proposed dredging, and its effects on the bay's water quality, that she is swimming from Mornington pier to St Kilda pier, from 5am on October 28, to make her point.

The trip will take her anywhere between eight and 14 hours, depending on currents.

"I'll leave in the dark and probably finish at dusk," says McCardel, who will tread water while she eats and drinks food handed to her from a boat travelling alongside.

McCardel objects to the economic damage she says the dredging will do to businesses that rely on the bay for their livelihood.

The Port of Melbourne Corporation argues that, since the damage to businesses from dredging 23 million cubic metres of clay, sand and contaminated silt from the bay will be temporary, economic costs need not be considered. The bay will recover quickly in most cases, it says.

McCardel disagrees. "Dredging is going to prevent a lot of people using the bay. Fishing, people who run small diving businesses around the bay will be badly affected," she says.

McCardel is also concerned that swimming races will be cancelled because of the dredging.

A social impacts assessment study by the Port of Melbourne Corporation in July found that plumes of murky water stirred up during dredging were likely to wash ashore at Williamstown, Port Melbourne and Albert Park beaches.

The plume, the study found, would "reach the shore at various times and in various concentrations and . . . may somewhat diminish the enjoyment of the affected area", particularly for people in high-rise apartments and those taking part in watersports.

© 2007 The Age

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