Lakes Entrance Sand Management, Environment Protection, Sand Dredging, Tide Information, Dredging Pump Sand, Coastal Environment & Coastal Protection, Gippsland

Gippsland Ports proposes to deepen the shipping channels at Lakes Entrance to improve access for commercial shipping and other vessels to the Port of Lakes Entrance. The Lakes Entrance Sand Management Program (LESMP) was announced by the Victorian Government in 2005 to install a system designed to keep the Port of Lakes Entrance open for vessel traffic. Insufficient geochemical data for sediments in four of the seven designated sub-areas proposed for dredging at Lakes Entrance necessitated further investigations to characterise potential contamination of the sediments proposed for dredging and classify the sediments as acceptable or otherwise for ocean disposal. Additional assessments in accordance with the National Ocean Disposal Guidelines (NODG) (DEH,2003) required document ion of the relevant physical and chemical properties of the sediments.