7 June 2007
Little creek with big destination
Not many people have heard of Watson Creek before, but the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve Foundation plans to change that very soon. With its headwaters in Baxter and South Frankston, Watson Creek flows through Somerville and into Western Port Bay. It has been identified by Melbourne Water and the EPA as one of Victoria’s dirtiest creeks, which is part of the reason the spotlight has been turned on it.
However, the main reason Watson Creek is getting so much attention is because it flows into the protected Yaringa Marine National Park, which is home to internationally significant mangrove communities, some of Victoria’s most extensive saltmarsh habitats and highly significant seagrass and mudflat communities.* It is also part of the Ramsar-listed wetlands, which provides important food and habitat for migratory birds.
Over the past few years, the Watson Creek catchment has been the subject of a number of strategies and plans aimed at improving certain aspects of the catchment environment. However, little coordination or communication has taken place between agencies (or with the community) to develop priorities for projects or to consider projects that may cross jurisdictional/functional boundaries. The Watson Creek catchment has therefore been identified as an appropriate (and urgent) area to trial the development of an integrated catchment management committee.
With initial funding from Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria and the Mornington Peninsula Shire, a project officer was recruited part-time for six months in February 2007. This initial stage has sought understand what the issues are relating to the creek’s poor water quality.
The process has uncovered a range of complex issues, ranging from mistrust of government agencies and the frustration of landholders constantly being told what to do, to lack of understanding about the creek and its environmental implications.
What has emerged out of this is recognition of the need to build bridges between community and agencies again, and the way in which the biosphere reserve foundation is planning to do this is through a document entitled the Watson Creek Agreement.
Being launched at Bembridge Golf Course on Tuesday 12 June, the aim of the agreement is to ultimately get as many signatures as possible, particularly from the communities of Somerville, Baxter and Pearcedale, as well as rural landowners in the catchment, community groups, councils, businesses and relevant government agencies.
After the official launch, the framed agreement will be available to view and sign up to at the Somerville Library, followed by several schools in the catchment and then out to the wider community. Anyone wishing to sign the agreement is welcome to do so.
The Watson Creek Project is being viewed by many as a pioneering attempt to bring together divergent sectors of the community on an issue — be it water quality or anything else — in order to work together to bring about environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability. It is hoped that this will be one of the many positive contributions that the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve can make towards the community.
* Parks Victoria 2006 Status Report to Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority for Biodiversity Action 11