Safety concerns made by residents has prompted the City of Busselton to take action to reduce the height and instability of the seagrass wrack accumulation on a section of beach west of the Port Geographe Marina.
The city advised it has been in regular contact with the Department of Transport in relation to the amount of seagrass present in this area and recently to express safety concerns raised by residents.
The department has given approval to the city which will engage a contractor to redistribute a portion of the seagrass wrack in an effort to reduce the accumulation.
The redistribution works will commence as soon as a suitable contractor becomes available and favourable weather conditions prevail.
The city aims to have the works completed before Christmas, however, work will cease immediately should odour monitoring indicate H2S levels exceed acceptable safety thresholds.
The capacity for wrack to move back into the cleared area must also be acknowledged.
City of Busselton mayor Grant Henley said the decision to proceed with works was not made lightly.
Mr Henley said the DOT has been monitoring the movement of sediment and sea wrack along this area of coast since the groyne reconfiguration.
“While we are conscious of the need to enable this monitoring to continue and understand there are potential benefits in leaving the wrack in place to assist with the natural bypassing of material in future years,” he said.
“The City of Busselton agree with residents in that the current accumulation is in excess of build-up experienced in other years post configuration.”
Mr Henley said due to a combination of more wrack, an absence of late storms, a change in the direciton of wind and wave action, and lower tidal surges contributed to the excess build-up.
With the department’s approval, Mr Henley said the council decided to take action on this occasion, noting that any future works remain incumbent on the managing authority.
“Council will continue to lobby the government on behalf of residents to ensure safety concerns relating to any excessive build-up of wrack on this section of beach are addressed until such time that the full benefit of the groyne configuration is realised.”
In addressing community concerns the city will also temporarily fence off a portion of beach west of the groyne where wrack redistribution work will not be undertaken.
Any concerns relating to beach amenity should be directed to the City of Busselton on 9781 0444. Specific concerns about odour and long-term management about accumulation should be directed to the Department of Transport.
