Maintenance Dredging of Garden Island Wharves

Overview

The Department of Defence is seeking to undertake maintenance dredging at its Stirling Naval Base facility to return waters around wharves to navigable depths. The proposed volume of sediment to be dredged is approximately 7000 cubic metres and the spoil is to be disposed of within Cockburn Sound in Navy waters adjacent to facilities.

Since the referral of the proposal the EPA sought more information from relevant agencies on the proposal.  After receiving additional advice from the Department of Fisheries the proponent has provided the EPA with an addendum to the Referral Support Documents including an Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan that provides further detail on the management of the proposal.  

Due to the time that has elapsed since the referral in November 2015, the new information is being made available for public comment.  The original referral document is also provided.

Why your views matter

At this initial stage of the EIA process, comment is simply sought on whether or not the EPA should assess a proposal and, if so, what level of assessment is considered appropriate.

The following diagram shows the stage this referral is at:

What happens next

Following the seven day public comment period and consideration of any comments received, the EPA will decide whether or not this proposal requires environmental impact assessment and, if so, what level of assessment will be applied.

The Chairman's decisions on level of assessment are released each Monday on the EPA's website.