Posted on April 30, 2025
A $2.3 MILLION, four-month dredging campaign is expected to remove a record 60,000 cubic metres of material from the Bandy Creek Boat Harbour at Esperance.
The work includes a new permanent, buried, pipeline to pump dredged material to Castletown Beach.
The campaign aims to restore channel depths at the entrance and to reduce the sand trap adjacent to the eastern breakwater to improve navigation and safety.
Department of Transport (DoT) Director of Coastal Facilities Shelley Grice said more than 40,000 cubic metres of dredged material will be pumped via the new 3.6 kilometre pipeline and used to widen Castletown Beach.
“The remaining dredged material will be pumped about one kilometre east of the harbour to maintain the natural coastal processes interrupted by the breakwaters,” Ms Grice said.
Following completion of a successful trial in 2021 using a temporary pipeline, funding of $750,000, from the Coastal Adaptation and Protection Major Project Fund under CoastWA, was allocated towards the permanent infrastructure.
Skippers operating in the harbour and visitors to Castletown Beach are advised to observe safety measures in place for the dredging and sand replenishment.
The dredging has seen close consultation with the local community including with the Shire of Esperance and the Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation.
