By Adam Carey
Cleaning the beaches on the Mornington Peninsula by hand has been scrapped after some locals complained of unsightly and smelly seaweed and called for a return of machine-cleaned “postcard” sand.
But others, including environmentalists, argued that bringing back mechanical raking will undo months of progress in creating healthier, more natural beaches, as the rake inadvertently buries some rubbish and removes ecosystem-friendly seaweed.
Mornington Peninsula Beach Box Owners president Peter Clarke at Dromana beach this week. Credit: Alex Coppel
At a raucous Tuesday night meeting with multiple interjections from the public gallery, peninsula councillors voted six to four to reintroduce mechanical raking to 80 per cent of the shire’s bay beaches, limiting hand-cleaning to those the machine cannot reach.
The council launched a 12-month trial of hand-cleaning of all bay beaches in July, responding to evidence that the mechanical rake breaks and buries many rubbish items, including plastics. An audit found that 85 per cent of the material the rake collects is organic matter such as seaweed, which is sent to landfill, where it generates emissions.
Some councillors had been pushing to revert to the rake since late last year.
Hand-cleaning has environmental benefits for beaches, according to a council officers’ report that was published before the vote.
Environmental campaigner Josie Jones was instrumental in establishing the hand-cleaning trial.Credit: Joe Armao
“Allowing organic material to break down via natural processes on the coast can reduce carbon emissions, provide habitat and food for animals, provide nutrients to support plant growth, deposit seeds promoting natural regeneration and attenuate wave energy. These outcomes contribute towards a healthier coastal ecosystem and increase erosion resilience of our beaches,” the report says.
A cost assessment also found mechanical raking is more expensive than hand-cleaning.
The report recommended the council reintroduce raking on just 30 per cent of beaches.
Mornington Peninsula councillor David Gill, an advocate for hand-cleaning, said it was “an environmental backwards step” to return to raking. He argued the peninsula’s bay beaches are cleaner now, even if they look less groomed.
A composite image of Safety Beach, showing what it looks like before and after being mechanically raked.
“Hand cleaning gets rid of the previously buried litter before it is broken up by the mechanical rake, and also collects from areas that the rake doesn’t go into because of damage to foreshore vegetation such as native grasses that hold together the dunes,” he said.
But Mayor Anthony Marsh said the trial had failed.
“I think within three months, it was pretty clear to me that the community were a bit unhappy with the unclean beaches,” he said.
“There’s obviously the look of it: people do like a groomed beach, but also … you’d go to the beach and there’s just seaweed with little bits of rubbish and dead fish everywhere.
“It got pretty foul. When you think of the pristine beaches that everyone sees on the postcards, it wasn’t that.”
In January, 57 per cent of respondents to a council survey said visiting the beach had become less pleasant since raking ceased and 55 per cent said they do not support continuing with hand-cleaning.
The president of the peninsula’s beach box owner’s association emailed more than 1000 beach box owners last week, urging them to pressure councillors to dump the trial.
“We understand that vote will be close and the anti-beach-cleaning lobby will be strident in advocating their position,” president Peter Clarke wrote.
Clarke, who ran for council in November but was unsuccessful, said the council’s four-person hand-cleaning team was not up to the task.
“It’s not cleaning the beaches on a regular basis; it’s intermittent,” he said.
Clarke said the seaweed on the beach contains hidden dangers such as glass and fishhooks.
“When you don’t clean up the seaweed and any other debris that’s around the edges of the beaches, then that obscures the nasty things that might be on the beach,” he said.
Not all beach box owners support his lobbying.
Simon McKeon, an NAB non-executive director and former Australian of the Year, said Clarke’s email was “disingenuous” in describing those who support hand-cleaning as “the anti-beach-cleaning lobby”.
McKeon said he had observed the peninsula for 60 years. “And I’ve never seen the beach in as good nick as I’ve seen it at the moment,” he said.
“The beach itself looks in good shape, vegetation is strong and looks healthy.”
The council’s latest published progress report on the hand cleaning system, for October to December, noted that new vegetation was forming in areas that were previously raked and that microplastics had decreased.
Beach box owner Simon McKeon says the beaches are as healthy looking as he has ever seen them. Credit: Joe Armao
It also noted community concerns, including “unsightly and smelly seaweed”, hazardous materials such as sharp sticks and broken glass being left behind and a potential reduction in tourism.
The council voted to trial hand-cleaning after campaigning by environmental volunteer Josie Jones, who has spent countless hours collecting rubbish from peninsular beaches and gathering examples of plastic litter buried and broken by the rakes.
Jones said some councillors had been opposed to hand-cleaning from the start.
Credit: Matt Golding
“They have been premature because they have an opportunity to change the narrative around a problem,” she said.
“Ideally, it would be best if the council increased the hand cleaning for a year so we had year-on-year comparison.”
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