LAND creation from virgin seabed that threatens local beaches is avoiding Federal Government scrutiny for dumping at sea, says a Swanbourne marine environment fighter and biologist.
Swanbourne Coastal Alliance convenor Jean-Paul Orsini is shocked the Fremantle Port Authority (FPA) has said two-thirds of the silt from port dredging would be put in a newly-created 27-hectare, Rous Head, North Fremantle, basin from next month.
The port will start dredging next month, deepening its inner harbour and channels to 16.5m so the largest container ships can arrive and sail fully loaded.
The Federal Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts Department (DEWHA) is currently assessing a permit to dump the other third of the dredging material, which the FPA claims will be clean sand and limestone, 3m-deep on 150 hect-ares about 6km offshore of Mosman Park.
But the DEWHA must also consider the basins’ silt would displace water to the open sea, Dr Orsini told the Gazette.
“The Fremantle Port Authority would have us believe that Rous Head is onshore activity,” he said.
“But Blind Freddy could see that the area within the seawall is ocean.”
Public fear of the project spiked several months ago when a WA Department of Environment and Conservation report said the dredging could create sediment plumes from Port to Scarborough beaches and up the Swan River.
Dr Orsini is concerned contaminants from the spill and the basin will eventually reach marine mammal and human food chains.
The FPA has said a plastic membrane inside the seawall, which was starting to be laid last week, would stop contamination.
Dr Orsini said the authority’s own information said the membrane would collect half the material. “So the water displaced by the highly toxic sediment, and mixed with it, will end up in the open water,” he said.
FPA chief executive officer Chris Leatt-Hayter said sand from dredging in the Rous Head pile would be dumped in the basin.
“All of this material has been extensively tested for suitability for use in reclamation and meets the State guidelines for landfill.”
Using dredged material for reclamation was not sea dumping and it was encouraged by the London Protocol governing the practice internationally, he said.
The port had liaised with the Federal Government since April last year, before applying for the permit after State environmental approval in August.