By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
BLUE Rock Lake has benefited from major earthworks and community-led constructions in recent weeks, as local landcare groups seek to rehabilitate a portion of the lake to combatting erosion issues.
The Revive Blue Rock Lake Project kicked into gear at the beginning of February with the aim to transform 130 metres of eroded shoreline into an accessible and much more picturesque section that the public can utilise.
In an effort to also restore and preserve the native sea life, fish hotels were also constructed by volunteers predominately from the Tanjil Valley Landcare Group during a working bee on February 9.
The fish hotels support native fish, such as bass, to get closer to the foreshore, and gives anglers a chance to fish from land rather than on a boat.
Australia’s sole fishing conservation charity supported the fish hotels initiative at Blue Rock Lake, and will return at a later date to monitor the activity through live scoping and underwater cameras.
Network facilitator and project manager, Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network’s Caroline Hammond said that the overall rehabilitation project came about due to many recognising the impact of erosion on the bank.
“Most of it (the erosion) has occurred through the weather systems, but we also do notice an increase in erosion occurring from the boats, the larger boats that are allowed on the lake now,” she told the Express.
“What was happening is the bank was eroding kind of quicker than we realised in order to measure how much we were losing, and there’s only about a two-metre distance now between where it was eroded and the walking track.”
Both Latrobe and Tanjil Valley helped establish the walking track back in 2015 and is a much traversed area of the lake.
Securing funding from Regional Development Victoria’s Tiny Towns grants, additional contributions from West Gippsland Catchment Authority and Southern Rural Water pushed the total funding to $43,000 to make the project possible.
With the rock beaching complete, totalling 330 tons of rocks, aquatic planting will now take place in either spring or next summer.
“The vegetation will also help to mitigate the erosion because the vegetation absorbs the energy from the waves, whether it be from the boats or the weather, and that will help to stop that erosion impacting this particular spot,” Ms Hammond said.
The project envisions the section of Blue Rock Lake to be an extension from the playground and picnic area where the walking track begins, as well as providing a pristine spot to fish on the land.
QR codes will be posted along the strip to allow anglers to report their fish, as to judge if the native population has increased.
The Revive Blue Rock Lake Project saw collaboration from the Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network, Southern Rural Water, West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority and Tanjil Valley Landcare Group.
