The Port Phillip Bay coastline is unique and supports a diverse range of marine and coastal ecosystems. Effective management of this coastline should balance the needs and values of coastal communities with the natural environment to reduce the impacts of current and projected coastal hazards.
DEECA wish to encourage the broader application of nature-based methods (NBMs) in adaptation. This project is part of the broader Mainstreaming Nature Based Adaptation in Victoria project, co-funded with the Commonwealth’s Coastal Estuarine and Risk Mitigation Program. Our primary objective was to evaluate sites for the implementation of NBM coastal adaptation options (e.g. dune restoration, shellfish reefs, seagrass, saltmarsh and mangroves) in Port Phillip Bay and identify one preferred site for design and implementation.
We developed a framework to assess and evaluate the coastline at a large scale in order to identify specific locations at a smaller scale to progress implementation of NBMs. Our assessment used various state and national spatial datasets, a living shoreline habitat suitability model (Young, et al. 2023), and onsite observations to identify options using NBMs at three priority sites. Proposed NBMs primarily included nearshore shellfish reefs and dune vegetation as the most feasible habitat types to meet project objectives.