Protecting Port Beach from coastal erosion

The City of Fremantle, WA, is preparing to put an initial 30,000 cubic metres of sand along Port Beach in the first stage of a major project to protect the beach from coastal erosion.

The sand is scheduled to be deposited on the beach in August to avoid the seagrass growing season.

With winter approaching, the City has been working with project partners Fremantle Ports and the Department of Transport, as well as project management and environmental approvals consultants, to protect Port Beach from erosion.

This follows the construction of a rock wall last year to protect facilities including the change rooms, surf club annex and the Coast Port Beach restaurant.

While the rock wall would continue to provide protection over winter, the sand nourishment project would be a further measure to address erosion in the short to medium term, Andrew Sullivan, the Deputy Mayor, said.

The state government last year announced that $3.25 million would be provided – through the WA Recovery Plan – for sand nourishment works to support the action already taken by the City and other agencies to protect the coast over a 10-year period.

This will include the placement of up to 150,000 cubic metres of sand over the next two years.

The works include dredging, placement of the sand, removal of small rocks and granite boulders from the beach as well as dune stabilisation and access paths.