Projects > projects > pb erosion

PORT BEACH COASTAL EROSION STUDY

DPI Report No 427
July 2004

Port Beach is a very popular recreation beach in North Fremantle.

In 1996, after severe storms, the public expressed concern about the condition of the beach. An interagency technical committee was formed to address these issues. The committee had representatives from the City of Fremantle and the Fremantle Ports.

Over the years, several studies were commissioned and a monitoring survey of the beach was started. The condition of the beach appeared to stabilise and it was decided to continue monitoring the situation rather than adopt recommendations based on limited field data.

In mid 2003, following major storms, the Port Beach Interagency Technical Group (PBITG) agreed to restart the investigation of stabilising the beach. Representatives from the Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI) were invited to join the group because of their expertise in coastal processes.

In July 2003, DPI’s coastal engineers were engaged to prepare a report on the options for the coastal management of Port Beach. A draft report was completed in March 2004, and has been the subject of peer review before release. After comments by the Port Beach Interagency Technical Group, the report was completed in July 2004.

The report listed 6 options for the long term management of Port Beach. The technical group discussed these six options and it agreed to short list Options 3 & 4. It was agreed to carry out further analysis on these 2 options in order to confirm some of the assumptions. This analysis will commence in October 2004 and be completed by the end of December 2004.

While this analysis is being done, the Port Beach Interagency Technical Group has agreed that the full report should be released to the community.

Once the analysis on Options 3 & 4 has been completed, the City of Fremantle will coordinate community consultation and comments early in 2005.

Please contact Department for Planning and Infrastructure on 92168999 for further information or view the report on their website http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/imarine/coastal_fac/index.html