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Recfishwest has joined growing calls for a full public environmental review of the AUKUS submarine development’s impacts on Cockburn Sound.
In an Australian Financial Review article earlier this month, Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland and our partners at Save Cockburn Sound (SCS) urged both Federal and State Governments to ensure maximum transparency and community involvement in decision-making around the project.
Acknowledging Cockburn Sound’s strategic defence importance, Andrew stressed that development must balance environmental protection with community access and fishing values.
Andrew said, “Cockburn Sound’s safe, accessible waters are vital to tens of thousands of Perth fishers delivering outstanding family fishing and supporting crucial fish species, including the largest pink snapper spawning aggregations in the West Coast bioregion.
“We recognise the strategic defence role of HMAS Striling naval base in Cockburn Sound, however the AUKUS development must not come at the expense of the environment, public access, or community amenity.
“People care deeply about this place, and this project must be fully transparent, rigorously assessed, and shaped with genuine input from the local community and all stakeholders.”
The AUKUS submarine development is another potential industrialisation strain on the abundant marine life within Cockburn Sound (pictured), which could see large, modernised submarines moving in and out of this sheltered waterway.
The cast of thousands stand up for Cockburn Sound
The local passion for the Sound was on full display at our Snapper Guardians fish release event in February, where one thousand mums, dads, and kids came together at Woodman Point to release juvenile pink snapper back into this much-loved waterway.
Recfishwest has long led efforts to protect Cockburn Sound from creeping industrialisation and has recently joined forces with Save Cockburn Sound – a coalition of community groups and individuals who are passionate about the Sound and enjoy a range of recreational activities in it.
As an SCS spokesperson put it in the Financial Review:
“Cockburn Sound supports a huge range of family accessible recreational activities for fishers, sailors, boaties, divers, nature watchers and windsurfers right on Perth’s doorstep giving enormous enjoyment and relaxation for thousands of West Aussies.
“However, the environment and amenity that supports all these activities is under increasing pressure from a range of industrial developments including AUKUS, the planned Westport Outer Harbour development and an 18m-deep shipping channel to be dredged through the heart of the Sound.
“We have serious concerns about the ongoing industrialisation of the Sound and we call on State and Federal Governments, and all developers, to take responsibility to ensure these developments have minimal impact on the Sound’s environment and the activities we cherish.”
Recfishwest and Save Cockburn Sound will continue to stand up for the Sound – and we urge anyone who shares our concerns to join us in the fight for its future.
The record attendance of 1,000 people at this year’s Snapper Guardians highlights the huge value the local community places in Cockburn Sound and the pink snapper stocks it supports.
Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “This massive turn-out from the community sends out such a clear signal as to how important the health of this waterway is to so many West Australians and the Cast of Thousands.”
Snapper Guardians’ popularity has always seen solid numbers of the community rolling up their sleeves to help hand-release thousands of juvenile pink snapper – but the 2025 edition sent our attendance records tumbling.
Recfishwest was blown away by the 1,000-plus mums, dads and kids who grabbed a bucket full of fish and helped us release 3,000 juvenile pink snapper – around 100 days old and between 7-9cm long – into their new home.
A big thanks to all of you who came down to help out including Ozfish Unlimited, and DPIRD’s Fremantle fish hatchery staff who collected the eggs, hatched and reared the fish for the release.
Check out the highlights from this special day in the video below!
Andrew said, “This turnout far exceeds what we were expecting, and it’s great to see passionate people give back to the environment which supports their fishing.
“Decision-makers and planners responsible for future industrialisation in these pristine waters need to take notice and reflect. The future of the Sound is in their hands and it’s simply too valuable to mess it up.”
It was fantastic to see the community’s respect for pink snapper was as big as the line was for releasing them! A big thanks to all families who came down and helped us release 3,000 pinkies in less than an hour!
Get around protecting the Sound
Snapper Guardians is just one of many Recfishwest-led initiatives working towards improving habitat and fish stocks which build better environments. It’s one of the targets in our election manifesto, and this is crucially important for Cockburn Sound.
This sheltered waterway on Perth’s doorstep is home to one of the largest aggregations of pink snapper on the West Coast and crucial nursery habitat for species like herring, whiting, crabs and squid – and with industrialisation threats to the area, we all need to rally together to protect it.
Are you passionate about protecting Cockburn Sound? Visit savecockburnsound.org.au to see what you can do.
A cutting edge “roboseeder” underwater robot is being trialled in Cockburn Sound to sew seagrass seeds help restore depleted beds of the ecologically critical plant.
Cockburn Sound has lost 80 per cent of its seagrass meadows since the 1960s due to industrialisation – a big dent in critical spawning habitat for species like pink snapper, whiting, squid and crabs.
This mirrors a global trend that is seeing seagrass crops being steadily depleted due to industrialisation and climate change.
“The biggest challenge we face globally is that we’re losing seagrass at about one soccer field, or half a hectare, every 30 minutes,” said Professor Gary Kendrick from the School of Biological Sciences and UWA’s Oceans Institute. “We need to be able to restore hundreds to thousands of hectares a year.”
The trial is being funded through the Government’s $13.5 million Westport Marine Science Program and if successful could help compliment the great work being done by volunteers as part of Ozfish’s Seeds for Snapper program in reseeding seagrass meadows in the Sound.
The newly arrived underwater robot, or seed injection machine drone, could help improve the rate of restoration significantly by allowing seeds to survive early life in, rather than on top of, the sediment.
The “Roboseeder” in action – it has the potential to sow thousands of seagrass seeds on the ocean floor to help restore lost seagrass habitat lost by industrialisation and climate change.
Recfishwest Operations Manager Leyland Campbell said, “It’s good to see innovative solutions being investigated to fix a problem that has been decades in the making. Any efforts to restore seagrass and productivity in Cockburn Sound are to be applauded.
“Seagrass is critical to the ecological health of Cockburn Sound and spawning habitat for fish that underpins fantastic family fishing experiences on Perth’s doorstep.
“That’s why the Government and developers need to be very careful about further industrialisation of the Sound until we are able to restore and protect this important environment.”
Recfishwest continues to have serious concerns about the future of Cockburn Sound following the Government’s release of its Westport Business Case summary earlier this week for the development of a $7.2billion container port in Kwinana.
The proposed port would require a massive dredging operation and see cargo vesselsmore than twice the length of Optus Stadium ovalpushing past families fishing from small boats.
The Westport dredging operation – what we know so far
To service the new port, a 18.5m deep shipping channel from Cottesloe to Cockburn Sound will require up to 35 million m³ of seafloor to be dredged – making it among the biggest dredging operations ever to be undertaken in Australia.
The new channel will be required to accomodate “Post-Panamax” size vessels measuring 366m long, 51.2m wide and 15.6m deep.
Dredging increases turbidity, reduces light penetration and is known to damage the marine environment. Much of the proposed dredging will occur around recovering seagrass meadows in Parmelia and Success Banks. These meadows provide critical habitat for species like snapper, crabs, whiting, herring and squid.
Westport’s revised EPA referral document acknowledges “The proposal is likely to have significant effects on the environment,” bringing into question promises made by Westport that the new port will “deliver positive long-term benefits for the natural and physical environment.”
As seen in this map on Westport’s website, there is a huge amount of dredging planned to make way for the port and shipping channel from Cottesloe to Cockburn Sound, making it among the biggest dredging operations in Australian history with serious potential impacts on the environment and fishing.
Premier Roger Cook recently announced a $273 million investment to progress detailed planning for the development of a new container port in Cockburn Sound following completion of a business case for the Westport project.
However, no indication was given as to how much – if any – of that investment would be spent on better understanding or addressing the project’s environmental impacts.
What Recfishwest has to say on the issue
Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “The business case has not been released and the summary of the business case that has been made public fails to address the impacts on the Cockburn Sound environment from dredging 35 million m³ of sand, installing a 2km long breakwater and constructing an international shipping container port.
“For seven years since Westport was first tabled, we’ve been asking the same questions and all we’ve heard is lip service being paid to the environment and our fishing experiences.
“Westport project managers claim this will be an environmentally friendly port that will leave the environment in a better place. We have seen no evidence this will be the case and so many questions around the environment remain unanswered.”
Recfishwest has recently joined the Save Cockburn Sound Alliance – a coalition of groups who have a strong connection with the Cockburn Sound and are deeply concerned about its future.
The key questions on Westport that continue to remain unanswered
What impact will dredging 35 million m³ of sand have on Cockburn Sound’s seagrass meadows, surrounding environment and fish stocks?
How will the proposed shipping channel, a 2km-long breakwater and a new port affect the environment of Cockburn Sound?
What plans do Westport have to minimise and mitigate the environmental and social impacts of the proposed port?
What other developments will the new shipping channel facilitate and what is the cumulative impact of this continued industrialisation of Cockburn sound?
Former AFL legend and passionate angler Glen Jakovich shared this fantastic footage with Recfishwest of a pink snapper spawning aggregation in Cockburn Sound.
“We drove a bit closer and I could see the pink fins breaking the surface and knew straight away what we were seeing,” said Glen. “I turned off the motor immediately and carefully set the drift to not disturb the school, but to get us close enough to have a look.
“It was just majestic to see, we did a couple of drifts and left them doing their thing. We see them schooling up like this every year and it never gets tired. How good is it having this on our doorstep?”
Glen has a lifelong passion for fishing in Cockburn Sound growing up fishing there and says he spent many hours as a young bloke fishing for pink snapper.
“I haven’t fished for them for years now, though,” said Glen, who says he’s more than happy catching bread and butter species in the sound these days. ‘But it’s just great to see and shows just how important the Sound is.”
The safe and accessible waters of Cockburn Sound support the largest known spawning aggregation of pink snapper in the West Coast Bioregion – the full moon around October usually marks the peak spawning period for these great fish. The Sound also supports a host of other popular species like squid, herring, whiting, garfish and crabs.
Save Cockburn Sound
This is why Recfishwest and the fishing community drove the introduction an extension of snapper spawning closures in the Sound and the Snapper Guardians community stocking program.
This is also why Recfishwest has joined a new community -based coalition of groups with a strong attachment to the sound and the recreational activities it supports called Save Cockburn Sound (SCS).
SCS exists to celebrate the great experiences Cockburn Sound provides and to ensure the Sound and all the social and well-being benefits it gives us is protected from excessive industrial development.
Recfishwest strongly encourages everyone who has a passion for fishing in Western Australia to join SCS in helping to protect this unique and treasured environment right on Perth’s doorstep so we can ensure this great footage like Jako’s does not become a memory in the future.
As seen in this incredible drone shot captured by Jamie Vogler in 2020 of a large school of pink snapper spawning in Cockburn Sound, this spectacle usually occurs around October and is a sight to behold for fishers.
Having fished in Cockburn Sound for 57 years man and boy, Cockburn Power Boats Club member Don Beisley is thrilled to have the chance to go crabbing with his grandkids in the Sound this summer.
This opportunity means three generations of his family will have enjoyed catching blue swimmer crabs in the Sound.
Don (pictured below with son-in-law Tony crabbing on the Swan) was one of thousands celebrating this week’s fantastic news that Cockburn Sound is to reopen for crabbing this summer for the first time in 10 years.
Don Beisley and his son-in-law Tony will soon be able to carry their joys of crabbing on the Swan River to Cockburn Sound, with crabbing given the green light in the Sound from 1 December!
“I’ve nothing but good memories of catching crabs in the Sound with my dad and my uncle when I was a kid, chugging out in their old school clinker boat,” recalled Don. “We’d take what we’d need for a feed, and they tasted great! But it was all about getting to do it with my dad and uncle – it was such fun!
Don continued, “When I got older, my wife and I took our kids out crabbing, and they loved it too. They still talk about it today as grown-ups. Now, I’m rapt to be able to share this experience with my grandchildren this summer.
“I was over the moon to hear the news – it’s such a magical place right on our doorstep. It’s pretty special, isn’t it? So, well done to you guys – it’s a great result for everyone.”
And when Don’s grandkids do go out crabbing with Don, it will be with crab nets they had a hand in making!
“We make our own nets for crabbing in the Sound,” Don revealed. “We get the frames made and sew all the mesh by hand. It’s all about the size, depth, and color of the mesh. Now, we’ve got the grandkids helping out with making the nets too!”
Picking up the thread. Don showing his grandchildren the art of crab net making!
Cockburn Soundbites
Here’s some of the other reactions to the great news for metro crabbers.
“Awesome outcome, thank you.” – Ted Russell
“Oh yes thank you very much for your info. Now no need to driving far for chasing crab thank you” – Henrix Clavecilla
“Excellent work really looking forward to it. It’s been a long time. Be great for the family and the kids. Thanks, Recfishwest!” – Jason and Karen Kuzmanich
“Great news, Recfishwest, Well done” – Barbara Ross.
“OMG! Been waiting since 2014! Awesome! Caught some nice feeds there,” – Murray Sofield.
“Awesome news for the upcoming seasons…Thank you to Recfishwest and the various departments involved in preserving, rebuilding and managing this important fishery” – Crackpots Marine Supplies.
Recfishwest is delighted by the Minister for Fisheries’ decision to reopen Cockburn Sound for crabbing this summer from 1 December for the first time in 10 years!
The announcement follows DPIRD’s updated scientific assessment that confirms crab stocks in Cockburn Sound have recovered enough to allow families and friends to catch a delicious feed of crabs in the sheltered waters of the Sound.
The assessment also showed that changing environmental conditions have reduced crab productivity in Cockburn Sound to a level unlikely to support commercial crab fishing into the future.
Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland said, “Over the last ten years, Recfishwest has repeatedly called for changes to the way crabs are managed in Cockburn Sound to deliver optimum community benefit.
“We are now pleased to see that the updated science assessment has confirmed what we suspected that the Sound can reopen for recreational crabbing.
“This is a great outcome for metro fishers further highlighting the huge value of Cockburn Sound.
“Crabs are one of the most popular species and reopening the Sound to crabbing will complement the iconic Swan-Canning and Peel-Harvey crab fisheries, so it’s looking like a great summer of crabbing ahead!”
The rules for crabbing in Cockburn Sound will be the same as those that apply in the Swan and Canning Rivers – the fishery will open from 1 December until 31 August with a bag limit of five crabs per person per day and a boat limit of 20.
The Cockburn Sound crab fishery was closed from 2006-2009 due to sustainability concerns and again in 2014 and hasn’t reopened since.
Reopening the fishery this summer is just another example of Recfishwest making fishing in WA even better – click here to join our cast of thousands as a Recfishwest member today and encourage your friends and family to do the same!
A cracker of a crab! Although this one wasn’t caught there, happy scenes like this will soon be returning to Cockburn Sound!
This year’s Snapper Guardians community fish stocking event, planned to be held at Woodman Point in Cockburn Sound, will regrettably not be going ahead.
Unfortunately, a finfish virus – betandovirus – was detected at DPIRD’s Fremantle hatchery where the juvenile pink snapper are hatched and reared.
This means, in order to protect Cockburn Sound’s wild pink snapper stocks, unfortunately none of the infected fish can be released.
Snapper Guardians sees hundreds of mums, dads and kids helping stock thousands of juvenile pink snapper into Cockburn Sound each year. Unfortunately, we’ve had to pull the plug on the 2024 event due to a virus affecting the snapper set for release.
It is obviously a disappointing setback for Snapper Guardians and the wider metro pink snapper fish releases as no pink snapper will be available for release this year. This is because the snapper stocking program relies on collecting eggs from the wild spawning population in October and November each year.
However, Recfishwest will be working with DPIRD to ensure the pink snapper stocking program gets back on track soon, in addition to other stocking initiatives for several other species.
Recfishwest Chief Executive Officer Dr Andrew Rowland said while it was disappointing Snapper Guardians cannot go ahead this year, the priority is to protect the health of wild pink snapper stocks in Cockburn Sound.
“Since the Snapper Guardians program started in 2016, more than 220,000 pink snapper have been released into Cockburn Sound providing a family-friendly opportunity to celebrate pink snapper, Cockburn Sound and to make sure we have plenty of fish for future generations,” he said.
“We look forward to bringing back the Snapper Guardians community fish stocking event in 2025. Recfishwest will continue to work with DPIRD on other stock enhancement programs including yellowtail kingfish, marron and trout to ensure high quality recreational fishing experiences are maintained and enhanced for all West Australians to enjoy.”
Recfishwest was pleased to hear Environment Minister Reece Whitby talk up the importance of Cockburn Sound and its seagrass habitat at a recent partnership agreement signing between Cockburn Power Boats Club (CPBC) and Ozfish for the Seeds for Snapper initiative that Recfishwest was instrumental in developing.
At the signing which took place at Woodman Point earlier this month, Minister Whitby admitted, “Over many years, we haven’t always exactly looked after Cockburn Sound. The seagrass has depleted dramatically…there are multiple uses and pressures on this valuable ecosystem and it’s taken its toll.
“Cockburn Sound plays a very important role economically, but it also plays a very important role socially and culturally – we know that anglers love it. We know the significance it has for our community and why it’s so important.
“Seagrass meadows are very critical for our fish. They provide a safe sanctuary, a nursery, a habitat and seagrass is also important to stabilise the sediment and it protects against erosion as well.
“It’s wonderful habitat to support some of the species that exist here that people are keen on – pink snapper, King George whiting, herring, fish that we enjoy all along the metro coast and providing that nursery environment for these fish is also very vital.”
The partnership agreement signing deal the Minister was attending saw CPBC sign a formal deal supporting the Seeds for Snapper seagrass restoration habitat project run by Ozfish and supported by Recfishwest.
The seagrass meadows in Cockburn Sound act as a crucial nursery habitat for many recreational species, including pink snapper, squid and King George whiting.
Holding the Minister to his words
Recfishwest Operations Lead Leyland Campbell, who also spoke at the event, welcomed the Environment Minister’s comments.
“It is good to hear that Minister Whitby has an appreciation of how important Cockburn Sound and its seagrass meadows that support the Sound’s abundant sea life is to the community,” said Leyland.
“We will be sure to hold the Minister to his words ahead of plans for the Westport international container port. What the Minister said highlights why questions must be answered on the impact dredging millions of tons of sand will have on the seagrass and the fish that rely on these meadows.
“That said, we are glad to see CPBC get behind Seeds for Snapper and we hope to see many other partners coming on board for this important project.”
If you were a betting person, you’d bet your Stella on Cockburn Sound being in the top two metro fishing locations – and for good reason.
Cockburn Sound is a safe, accessible place that has provided great fishing for generations. Its seagrass meadows support a huge range of species and provide important nursery habitats for many of our favourite fish. The unique hydrodynamics of the Sound also support the biggest spawning aggregations of pink snapper in the West Coast Bioregion. There aren’t many places in the world that have all this on the doorstep of their capital city.
However, a shadow looms large over the future of the Sound with a glut of industrial developments planned. The biggest of these, of course, is the Government’s Westport plan to build an international container port in Kwinana by 2032 to replace Fremantle port.
To date, the knowledge gaps on how the Westport development will impact the environment are big enough to drive a fleet of mega-tankers through. Questions about how the significant dredging required or how ships the length of Optus stadium’s oval will impact on Cockburn Sound’s unique aquatic habitat remain unanswered.
So, what do we know about the development at this stage?
What exactly is being proposed for the new port in Cockburn Sound?
The Government wants to build a new container port adjacent to Anketell Road which will also require a new 18-metre-deep shipping channel that will run through the heart of the Sound. The map below provided by Westport shows a basic outline of what is proposed. The map says ‘Indicative only’ because Westport is still trying to answer questions about what environmental impact the port will have so they can present a business case to the WA Government in 2024. This business case will include a recommended port design.
A detailed map showing the Westport plan proposals for Cockburn Sound.
How will this impact on the Sound’s habitat and my fishing?
At this stage, it is impossible to say and therein lies a big problem.
Incredibly, the environmental impact a new harbour would have on Cockburn Sound was unknown when the Westport Taskforce recommended a new port be built in Cockburn Sound. Recfishwest met with both the then Ports and Fisheries Ministers to raise our concerns and, subsequently, the Government committed $14 million to undertake a science program designed to answer some of the questions Westport had chosen not to answer before making their recommendation.
These questions include what impact will dredging millions of tons of sand have on the marine environment. Managed inadequately, this dredging has the potential to smother the remaining seagrass which has already declined by nearly 80 per cent since the 1960s. Initiatives like Seeds for Snapper run by Ozfish and supported by Recfishwest are attempting to restore lost seagrass habitat, but there are fears these efforts could be for nothing given the scale and duration of the dredging planned for the Westport development.
Westport itself acknowledges this is a big issue that will need to be addressed:
“Marine fauna in Cockburn Sound may be affected through impacts such as habitat loss associated with excavation and reclamation, dredging-related turbidity, and increased vessel movements. Certain fauna may be more vulnerable to different pressures at different stages of their life cycles, such as the larval stage. Further, impacts on fauna that form integral parts of the wider ecosystem and food web (such as forage fish eaten by numerous predators) can result in larger ecological consequences.” – Westport Future Port Recommendations May 2020.
The science program, as well as the mitigation strategy Westport has committed to, must address key issues such as this.
The unique hydrodynamics of the Sound support the biggest spawning aggregations of pink snapper in the West Coast Bioregion, where large specimens like this fish pictured will gather in the Sound to spawn each year.
What is the science program going to tell us? How can we be sure the results are going to be genuine?
The Cockburn Sound science program involves more than 100 scientists working across 30 projects, looking at ecosystem modelling, water and sediment quality, fisheries and aquatic resources, hydrodynamic modelling, social values, noise and impacts on apex predators and iconic species.
Westport claims information collected through the science program will contribute to its business case, as well as inform its mitigation strategy and environmental impact assessment.
Recfishwest will be closely scrutinising the science program’s results, to ensure they stack up, are made publicly available and adequately inform the port design. There is already a question mark, however, over how some of these projects will do this given they are due to finish after the port design has been finalised.
A large number of scientists are conducting research on the effects Westport would have on a range of species that heavily rely on the Sound for breeding and shelter, including King George whiting.
What is the process and timeline for the completion of this development?
So far there is little publicly available information on timelines for the project which is disappointing given the size, scale and importance of the project to the WA tax-paying public. We were able to get the following response from Westport on this:
The preferred option for the container terminal and supply chain later will be identified later this year.
The Westport business case will be provided to the WA Government in mid-2024 and will outline when the new port and logistics network should be developed and how the transition of container trade to Kwinana will work.
The final science projects are timetabled to conclude by June 2024, however, the referral to the EPA is scheduled to be ready for submission in late 2023.
The Public Environmental Review (PER), when members of the public have the opportunity to comment on the proposals, is due in March 2025.
If given the green light, dredging is due to start in November 2027 with the port operational by 2032.
Dredging for Westport is planned to start in November 2027 within Cockburn Sound around the current Kwinana port, with sights set on it becoming operational by 2032.
What other potential projects are in the pipeline for Cockburn Sound?
Port Rockingham Marina
CBH Kwinana Fertiliser project
Henderson large vessel dry dock
AUKUS submarine base
Another desalination plant
CIVMEC submarine rescue facility
The cumulative impact on the Cockburn Sound environment of these developments could result in “death by a thousand cuts” with each individual development doing their bit to result in significant long-term damage. This is why simply using the current environmental state of Cockburn Sound as a benchmark for future developments is not appropriate.
Cockburn Sound is a recovering ecosystem, after decades of industrialisation, we are only now starting to see the environment of the Sound improve and we need to ensure any developments do not jeopardise this recovery.
Is there anything we can do to have any influence on the final outcome?
As a community we need to ask ourselves what do we want for the future of Cockburn Sound? A heavily industrialised aquatic wasteland or a healing, flourishing marine environment that can continue to support fantastic, safe, accessible and family friendly fishing?
Westport will no doubt claim we can have both, however, history suggests otherwise. With a continuing lack of information coming from Westport, it is important you tune into Recfishwest channels and keep yourself informed, so when the time comes to submit your views as part of the Public Environmental Review process, you are able to do so in an informed manner.
Consider joining our cast of thousands as a Recfishwest member to help strengthen our ability to advocate in the interests of WA fishers on this and a multitude of other issues that impact on our treasured fishing.
Recfishwest will continue to fight for protecting Cockburn Sound, along with the fishing experiences, social and health benefits it provides to so many West Aussies.
