Bellarine Times
Tuesday 4 January 2011
VOL 4. No 1
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
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Cyclist killed A BELLARINE road identified by local cycling group, Bike Safe, as requiring urgent attention has claimed the life of a 53-year-old cyclist. In a tragic start to 2011, the cyclist from Wendouree died after a collision with a Honda CRV on Murradoc Road, Drysdale on Sunday. Police have been told the vehicle and the cyclist were both travelling west along Murradoc Road near Clarendon Road around 9.20am, when the collision occurred. The female driver from Point Lonsdale has been interviewed and a coroner’s report is being prepared. Murradoc is one of four priority roads identified by Bike Safe because it has no bike lanes or shoulders and is rated ‘extremely hazardous’. Bike Safe was formed last year to improve bicycle safety on the roads across the Bellarine and Surf Coast. In 2009 there were six cyclists killed on Victorian roads and two of those deaths were on local roads. Sunday’s Bellarine fatality took Victoria’s 2011 road toll to two, already two more than for the same period last year.
REEF RELIEF Portarlington Mussel Festival committee members, Lindsay Noss, Brian Knights and Karen Shannon are looking forward to a fantastic festival this Saturday, after 12 months of preparation and one of the best mussel seasons in several years. For more information, visit www.portarlingtonmusselfestival.net.au Photo: ALISON MARTIN
Could a series of artificial reefs be the answer to saving the Bellarine from rising sea levels?
reef is an ideal safe haven for fish to spawn which can then provide a new experience for divers that in turn expands the local dive industry. “The entire coastline environment is enhanced and protected and, as well, it could be a more viable way to deal with rising sea levels.” ASR promotes its message that “with the strain that humanity puts on the earth’s oceans marine systems, we need to be smarter about how we manage this critical natural resource”. Committee for Bellarine is calling on all levels of government, coastal authorities and community to begin investigation into artificial reefs and the many opportunities to secure the future of the whole Bellarine coastline and its offshore environment. For more information, contact Committee for Bellarine on www.committeeforbellarine.com.au
WED 2ft small S/SE 22° THU 1-2ft poor E/SE 23° FRI 1ft tiny N/NE 29° SAT 1ft flat W 28°
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and redirecting the wind, wave and tidal energy and thus eliminating erosion and stabilising the shoreline. Artificial reefs, which are submerged offshore, also create additional habitat for marine animals and promote the biodiversity and enhanced ecosystems. O’Connor said the ASR artificial reefs, nationally and internationally, have proven to protect and stabilize coastlines, enhance marine ecology, and, where the natural conditions allow, created an enhanced surfing experience. “It’s brilliant work. In fact the process mimics nature itself. A reef or series of reefs can create extra surf breaks that enhance the surfing and tourism experiences and commercial opportunities,” O’Connor said. “The fishing industry is improved because the
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BELLARINE authorities are being urged to investigate artificial reef creation to address rising sea level predictions and provide a range of other coastal protection, industry and tourism benefits. Committee for Bellarine spokesperson, Tom O’Connor, said the innovative development of artificial reefs around the world was a positive, sustainable option that needed to be more carefully considered, particularly because of the coastal protection benefits. “A detailed cost-benefit analysis needs to be done to validate the upside of coastal protection rather than continue with the old line... ‘costs too much and we don’t have the money, and then continuing the age-old practice of building more groynes’,” he
said. “We need to look at the extensive mapping released by the Commonwealth Government that predicts the Bellarine will be one of the worst affected areas by low, medium and high sea level rises and do nothing – or use the data to take action and plan for a positive future.” Discussions over the past six years with ASR Marine consultants, chief executive Kerry Black, one of the world’s leading companies spearheading the development of innovative solutions for coastal protection by working with the natural processes, have reinforced the benefits of manmade reefs. The ASR reef designs enable the formation of a wider, more stable section of a beach, resulting from the strategically located offshore reef, by reducing
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BY ALISON MARTIN
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