2023 Dredging Activity Report

2023 Annual Summary for Tommy Norton
• 617 loads placed in the Dredged Material Grounds
• 313,259m3 sand dredged
• 220,899m3 sand removed from The Bar
• 92,221m3 sand removed from the Inner Channels

Notable achievements in 2023
Tommy Norton
• Tommy Norton dredged 62% of available days.
• >4,000m3 dredged in a day
• >40,000m3 dredged in a month
• >300,000m3 dredged in the year, which is the annual volume that Tommy Norton is designed to be able to achieve at Lakes Entrance.

Kalimna
• Kalimna completed major slipping and maintenance
• 97,597m3 sand dredged

2023 Work Completed

January 2023

• Planned annual maintenance completed for all dredging vessels and equipment.
• Dredging operations recommenced mid-January
• Monthly hydrographic surveys of all channels and survey of known areas of sand accretion identify the areas where sand accretes and dredging is required.
• Tommy Norton and Kalimna continue maintenance dredging of the Bar and areas of the Inner Channels identified by hydrographic survey.
• The 2022 Environmental Management Plan Audit completed with 100% audit compliance result.

February / March 2023 

• Gippsland Lakes Ocean Access annual reports completed and submitted to Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)
• The reports are underpinned by extensive program monitoring and hydrographic surveys and analysis of dredging and completion of the EMP audit.

May to October 2023

• DEECA issued consent under Victoria’s Marine and Coastal Act 2018 (MACA) on 11 May 2023 (expires on 11 May 2033)
• DCCEEW issued the commonwealth Sea Dumping Permit on 24 October 2023 (expires 24 October 2033).
• These approvals authorise the dredging of the entrance channel (the area between the entrance training walls), the ocean bar and inner channels, and the placement of the dredged material in designated dredge material grounds in the shallow waters off the ocean beaches approximately two kilometres to the east and west of the entrance.

November / December 2023

• The 2023 Environmental Management Plan audit commenced and is due for reporting in late January 2024
• Tomy Norton and Kalimna annual maintenance commenced in late December.