Tag: COCKBURN

Cockburn Sound’s future on the line

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.

Cockburn Sound pink snapper and blue swimmer crab changes now in effect

Remember the latest management changes, including seasonal closures, for both pink snapper and blue swimmer crabs in the West Coast Bioregion came into effect on September 1.

Both of these closures are critical in protecting spawning snapper and crabs, helping to secure the future of the fantastic fishing experiences both of these iconic recreational species offer in the metro area and South West.

To catch up on the latest pink snapper management changes click here.

To find out the about the blue swimmer crab management changes click here.

You can find a break-down on what these crab changes mean for your crabbing area here.

Blue swimmer crab changes and what they mean for you

The new management changes for blue swimmer crabs in Perth and the South West will result in more protection for the female crab breeding stock will ensure bigger, better crabs in the near future.

  • Permanent removal of commercial fishing licences in Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds and from Mandurah to Bunbury through a voluntary buy-back scheme will ensure more protection for the female crab breeding stock and more crabs and bigger crabs to fish for.
  • The buy-back of commercial fishing licences in Cockburn Sound opens the real possibility for recreational crab fishing in the Sound.
  • Introduction of a three-month seasonal closure – September 1 to November 30 – in all waters from the Swan and Canning Rivers (inclusive) to 15km south of Bunbury.

See our map below to show you what the changes mean for you in your favourite crabbing locations.

Behind the scenes: Snapper Guardians egg collection

Recfishwest recently joined the team from the Australian Centre for Applied Aquaculture and Research (ACAAR) on their mission to collect fertilised snapper eggs for this summer’s Snapper Guardian’s project.

Recfishwest habitat officer Michael Tropiano joined ACAAR where they successfully collected enough fertilised eggs to once again stock Cockburn Sound with one of WA’s most important recreational fishing species.

WATCH: Check out the video below to see some of the action as it happened:

Pink snapper are found throughout the world, however, in the West Coast Bioregion of Western Australia, there are a few particularly special locations that we rely on every year to ensure the future of the wild stock for this species.

A spawning school of pinkies in the Sound!

Cockburn and Warnbro sounds are the largest and most important spawning grounds for pink snapper in the entire West Coast Bioregion and the health of these systems has a close linkage to the ongoing health of the wild stock of this species.

While all spawning in the same location makes for simple protection of spawning snapper (the closure in the sounds protects spawning snapper from 1 October – 31 January), for these fish, releasing all their eggs in one location does have the potential to be a risky strategy.

For any fish egg to hatch, and survive all the way to adulthood is a struggle against the forces of nature. For pink snapper, in particular, it’s the first few months when the eggs are most vulnerable.

Whether a snapper egg hatches and survives these first few perilous months is almost completely dependent upon the environmental conditions. Most years, unfortunately, the environmental conditions aren’t quite right and only a small number of snapper actually hatch and survive. Luckily there are a few times every decade when the perfect conditions line up with spawning time and there is a boom year with a huge number of snapper hatching and surviving.

Image: Bongo nets skimming the surface collecting snapper eggs.

The strategy to spawn all in the one location and the huge natural variations in their spawning success, coupled with the fact that the pink snapper stock is still in a recovery phase, means these snapper are literally putting all their eggs in the one basket…

Given the importance of pink snapper to Western Australian fishers and knowing the risks associated with their spawning strategy, there was an investment in 2015 into a trial project to see if it was possible to create a pink snapper insurance policy.

The idea behind the trial was to test if it was possible to collect a very small number of eggs from the wild (the amount spawned by only two or three snapper) and grow them large enough to potentially release, plus test the genetics to ensure they would reflect that of the natural population.

If this trial was successful (as it was), then it would provide an insurance policy in case something happened or the conditions turned out to be unfavourable for their survival in the sound year after year. The idea was that once these insurance snapper were to reach a size where they were no longer dependent on favourable environmental conditions to survive, they could then be released back into the wild to support the natural recovery of this species.  As with all insurance policies, you hope you never have to use them, however in 2015 there was a large fish kill in Cockburn Sound and the insurance policy was called upon in its first year.

Image: School of spawning Pink Snapper spotted on the sounder.

The trial project proved to be a success and is now known as Snapper Guardians and has been running for three years. Over the last few weeks, the staff from ACAAR have been out working into the late hours of the night to try and to collect just enough eggs to create this year’s supply of insurance snapper. The good news is, it looks like they have been able to collect enough eggs to again begin running Snapper Guardians. The latest news is that snapper eggs have just hatched and are being carefully reared at their hatchery in Fremantle.

The plan this year is to again release the snapper back into the wild once they are big enough to survive on their own. Stay tuned for more details on how you can lend a hand in the community release day early next year.

Read WA Today’s coverage of our story, here.

Fact file:
• The Snapper Guardians program has already released 100,000 baby pink snapper back into the wild.
• The original trial project was funded through the Recreational Fishing Initiatives fund and was run by ACAAR with support from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Recfishwest.
• In 2016 the WA State Government committed funds to continue the program running for two years.

Fisheries Fact Sheet: Pink Snapper Government of Western Australia, Department of Fisheries. 2011.