November Newsletter

Hi members,

Well, we seemed to have got through the winter without any major weather events to disrupt the beach. The sand heights along East Beach are currently quite good, most posts showing average or above average heights. Its interesting to see that post 4 has been buried by about half a meter of sand during the last few years, which of course is wind blown. We had to dig down to attach a metal extension to it a couple of months ago. The sand level at 30 metres from the posts reflects movement of the sand by water and we see a pattern emerging of a progression of highs working its way along the beach from south to north from late winter to December.

We continue to monitor South Beach and Pea Soup with the Port Fairy primary schools once a month, which they enjoy, and we even had a group of year 9 students from Cobram who came down for the day to learn about monitoring and to study the effects and purpose of the rock wall that is protecting the old tip sight. David Bills Thompson educated and entertained them for several hours despite the bad weather and both students and teacher were very appreciative.

Tim Pallas (State Treasurer) had a flying visit to Port Fairy on 8-9-17 to get a better understanding of the potential risks of erosion of the old tip site and to see what remedial action MSC had taken. David was busy once again providing a short presentation before the delegation proceeded to Pea Soup area to see what proactive measures were being proposed there.

MSC have been very active lately getting public comments and feedback for the Port Fairy Climate Change Adaption Plan. The sessions and presentations at the Community Centre were well attended. Our group had a presence there mainly to increase our exposure and hopefully to recruit more members and volunteers to help with the beach monitoring. Four new members signed up and will be instructed in a few days. The group has other ambitions. We would like to gather more information about sand movements in the bay but have not had sufficient manpower to take this on. Now, hopefully things will change. Those that frequent East Beach would have noticed the rebuilding of a section of the wall extending south from Ritchie St to protect the road above. It’s interesting to see what small rocks were used compared to the 5 ton ones today being put in place. It’s probably got something to do with the availability of front-end loaders these days.

Membership fees are due for the June 17 to June 18 financial year time for year and I’m sure our treasurer, Max Holmes will appreciate for your imminent response! Well I’m off to the Coast-to-Coast meeting in Melbourne next week. Best Wishes, Nick Abbott

Port Fairy Coastal Group Incorporated

Registration Number A0056955G Chairperson: Nick Abbott, 8 Griffiths Street, Port Fairy, Victoria 3284 Email: <nickabbott44 at gmail.com> Phone: 0438007829