A 20 metre line of floating vegetated islands have been installed in the Peel estuary north of Island Point Reserve to help protect the foreshore from erosive wind and waves.
The area has suffered storm damage in recent years, and it is hoped the islands can be rolled out in the future to help protect other areas of the estuary.
The islands reduce waves that lead to erosion while removing pollutants and added nutrients form the waterway as they grow.
Mandurah Mayor Marina Vergone said the project was a culmination of the work of several groups.
“The City’s Environmental Services team, with help from the Natural Areas crew, the Green Army and Allied Pumps, installed floating vegetated islands at Island Point recently,” she said.
“This is creative, new technology that the Environment team is trialling in this area, and are testing to see if they will be best practise in terms of erosion management for the future.
“These new additions achieve wave reduction through dissipation of wave energy through the plants growing in the islands, and through the material of the islands themselves.
“As an added bonus, the plants remove pollutants and nutrients from the water while they grow. This same innovation could be considered for other sites in Mandurah in the future.”
The storms that hit the coast over the weekend were the first test of the islands, with some islands suffering minor damage but not enough to prevent them working effectively.
“Despite high level storm activity on the weekend, the islands proved to be quite resilient and minor damage sustained will require a low amount of cost and effort to fix,” Ms Vergone said.
