What you need to know
Why we exist
Save Cockburn Sound values the Sound as a hugely important community asset on the city’s doorstep. Its protected waters provide a safe and accessible place in which to fish, boat, swim, relax in, enjoy and simply wonder at with its seagrass meadows supporting abundant marine life.
But its future is on the line in the face of several planned industrial developments, the biggest of which is the Government’s “Westport” plans to build a massive new container port adjacent to Anketell Road, which will also require a new 18-metre-deep shipping channel to be dredged and which will run through the heart of the Sound. Find out more about Westport The Government’s planned westport container portand what it means for the Sound here.
The decision to industrialise Cockburn Sound in the 1950’s was an environmental disaster that led to significant pollution, habitat loss and deterioration of water quality. Cockburn Sound is only just beginning to recover from decades of industrialisation, and we need to ensure any future developments do not jeopardise this recovery.
What we stand for
We are here to celebrate the great experiences Cockburn Sound provides and to keep up the pressure to make sure:
1. The Sound’s unique environment and habitat is protected from the damaging impacts of all future developments, for example, more than 80 per cent of the Sound’s seagrass meadows have been lost in recent decades, we cannot afford to lose anymore
2. Critical spawning habitat for species like crabs, snapper, squid and whiting is not damaged or destroyed, for example, the Sound supports the only known spawning aggregation of pink snapper in the West Coast Bioregion, losing that could be catastrophic for pink snapper stocks throughout the region.
3. We can continue to enjoy access to the activities we all love and value in the Sound – fishing, sailing, kayaking, swimming, windsurfing, nature watching are all activities the Sound provides for and that are good for our health and wellbeing.
who we are
Save Cockburn Sound is a coalition of groups who have a strong connection with Cockburn Sound and are deeply concerned about its future. We want to ensure we can continue to enjoy the Sound and all the social, well-being and family bonding benefits it gives us. With WA’s growth in the modern world, we understand that some development in the Sound is inevitable. However, as custodians of the Sound, we see it as our role to do all we can to ensure the Government, and all developers, take responsibility to ensure these developments have minimal impact on the Sound’s environment and the activities we cherish.
