A study of more than 5,500 square kilometres of Western Australia’s coastline, including the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, has provided a rare look at the sea floor that will help plan for the future care and protection of the coast.
Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) Chair Eric Lumsden said that advanced Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology was used to undertake a bathymetric survey of the coast between Hillarys and Horrocks; the Abrolhos Islands; and five inland waterways in the southwest (Peel Inlet, Harvey Estuary, Leschenault Estuary, Hardy Inlet and Wilson Inlet).
“The resulting maps show incredible three-dimensional features of our underwater coastal terrain,” Mr Lumsden said.
“The data provides invaluable baseline information to inform coastal hazard risk management and adaptation planning as required by the WAPC’s State Coastal Planning Policy 2.6.
“It will be used across Government to better understand and manage the impacts of sea level rise, storm surge and inundation on the State’s coast and allow better protection of coastal assets, infrastructure, public safety and the environment.”
Variations in sea-floor relief are depicted by colour and contour lines and provide for the first time a look at the shape of the seabed, and the ability to broadly classify seabed materials and habitat.
The project was funded and managed by the WAPC, Department of Planning, Department of Transport, Landgate, Department of Water, Department of Fisheries and the State Emergency Management Committee.