Port Phillip Baykeeper
Interested in seashells? Join the Port Phillip Baykeeper on a seashore safari in January 2009. A great family day out! For more information, visit Seashell Safari
About the Port Phillip Baykeeper program
Port Phillip Baykeeper program was established by Port Phillip EcoCentre.
The program’s aim is to initiate and celebrate community action to improve and protect waterways, which ultimately will provide a bountiful Bay for future generations.
The health of the Bay depends on awareness and practical action by Bay users and those living in its catchments to eliminate potential threats.
Over the past forty years, a number of government studies and reports have found that despite chronic contamination of sediments around river and stream mouths, the Bay is in good health compared to similar waterbodys elsewhere in the world. Good news which left us all feeling pretty good… and perhaps even a little complacent.
Just 6 years after the 1996 Port Phillip Bay Environmental Study recommended that the possibility of long-term chronic effects of low-level toxicants on the biota of the Bay be investigated, a proposal was flagged to dispose of more than 3 million cubic metres of contaminated Yarra River sediments in the Bay. Despite vigorous and well-reasoned community opposition, the Port Phillip Bay Channel Deepening project commenced in 2008.
In the face of these major changes, the Port Phillip Baykeeper is committed to protecting the life in the Bay through positive advocacy and working partnerships with diverse interest groups, including community, recreational users, government and businesses.
We respect the rights and traditional cultural connections of Indigenous communities around the Bay, and aim for mutually beneficial working relationships with them, Melbourne Water, Association of Bayside Municipalities, Catchment Management Authorities, community environment groups and recreational Bay user groups such as VRFish.
Contact:
(Port Phillip EcoCentre)
Port Phillip Baykeeper
Neil Blake - Baykeeper
0409 138 565
baykeeper@ecocentre.com
