Port Beach Sand Nourishment Project Update - February-March 2023

Funded by the State Government’s WA Recovery Plan, the second phase of combating coastal erosion by depositing 150,000 cubic metres of sand at Port Beach will re-commence shortly.

An initial placement volume of 92,400m³ of sand was placed at the swash zone of Port Beach between July and October 2022, a small amount of sand placed on 16-17 February and the remaining volume of sand, up to 57,600m3 to be completed from Wednesday 8 March 2023 for approximately a week.

What to expect?

• 24 hours operations (including at night) will occur throughout the work period. For safety reasons, the southern section of Port and Sandtrax beaches will be closed during this time. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
• Dayshift operations will focus on the southern end of Sandtrax.
• Nightshift only operations will occur at the southern end Port Beach – to the south of the main carpark.
• Water depths, currents, and wave conditions will be modified and hence the currents and surf may be unpredictable.
• It’s possible that as ‘wet’ sand is deposited, odour may be generated. This is expected to dissipate relatively quickly.
• Sand placed on the beach may first appear darker than the existing beach, but this is expected to fade over time.
• The dredging and rainbowing works are not expected to impact access to facilities such as parking, change rooms, the Surf Life Saving Facility and commercial food and beverage outlets.

Phase One Wrap Up

In Phase One, sand was dredged from the Fremantle Port’s deep water channel, with 98 dredge loads ‘rainbowed’ onto the beach’s nearshore area via the Modi R Dredger.

To date, around 70,000 m³ of sand has been placed at Sandtrax and around 22,400m³ has been placed at Port Beach.

Environmental Monitoring and Management

During the dredging works, measures for monitoring and managing key environmental factors will continue to be implemented. This includes the monitoring of seabed shading, water turbidity and dredge plumes along the coast between Port Beach and north of Cottesloe Reef.

Monitoring involves the deployment of light level measurement devices on the seabed at various locations as well as regular water quality sampling and laboratory analysis and various daily monitoring tasks including daily photography.

In Phase One, monitoring results were reviewed by our environment consultant progressively during the dredging works. The results demonstrated that the plume caused by the dredging was relatively small and none of the key environmental threshold criteria were exceeded during the project.

Dune Creation Works

Following the completion of the sand placement, the City will also undertake Dune reestablishment and revegetation at Port Beach. Works are expected to be completed during autumn and winter 2023 and will involve earthworks to construct the dunes, beach access path creation, stabilisation of the dunes with coir matting and revegetation.

A request for tender for the Dune Creation Works was issued by the City in December 2022, with award of the works expected in the coming weeks.