Marine studies progress for Victoria Energy Terminal

Vopak is undertaking the most comprehensive subsea studies ever conducted in Port Phillip Bay. The aim is to understand existing conditions and plan to mitigate impacts to the environment and other activities such as fishing and recreation.

Over the past 12 months, Vopak has undertaken an extensive marine monitoring program to better understand physical and biological conditions. The work has been led by independent marine ecology consultants at SLR Consulting and are being reviewed by a recognised ocean science expert.

Insights from these studies, along with feedback from commercial fishers, aquaculture operators and others in the fishing industry, have informed refinements to the project’s monitoring approach.

As a result, one of the project’s monitoring buoys has been relocated closer to the Kirk Point Werribee Aquaculture Reserve to enhance our understanding of how to protect the bay’s mussel and aquaculture industry during construction of the underwater pipeline and HV cables.

A new water quality monitoring buoy has been set up a few hundred metres north of the Kirk Point Aquaculture Reserve to collect at least a year’s worth of data including: 

• Water temperature 

• Turbidity (how much sediment is moving around the water) 

We’ve also installed two hydrophones – underwater noise monitoring devices – in Port Phillip Bay. One is at the proposed FSRU location. The other is near the entrance to the Yarra River along the shipping channel. 

This information will play an important role in informing construction planning for the proposed subsea pipeline and ensuring potential impacts are appropriately understood and managed.

We will share our findings along the way with government, stakeholders, the public as well as the Registered Aboriginal Parties and First Peoples - State Relations.

This new information and data will help everyone understand Port Phillip Bay to continue to protect and enhance it.