Port Phillip and Westernport - Natural Resource Management region
Regional summary
The Port Phillip and Westernport region covers an area of 1.28 million ha in south central Victoria, and is home to a population of 3.4 million people, including 48 per cent of Victoria's Indigenous population. The region includes Port Phillip Bay, Westernport Bay and their ocean frontages, metropolitan Melbourne and the river catchments of Yarra, Werribee, Maribyrnong, Dandenong, and Westernport.
The main land uses include horticulture, agriculture and urban expansion. The annual gross value of agriculture production in the region is estimated at $1 billion, 15 per cent of Victoria's total. The region is densely populated and therefore presents some unique issues, such as the impacts that come with population growth, urban and agricultural development.
For example Port Phillip Bay will not cope with growing inputs of water-borne nutrients. Westernport Bay's health is severely affected by the inflow of increased sedimentation. The Werribee and Maribyrnong Rivers are under pressure from high levels of water harvesting. Natural habitats in the coastal and Mornington Peninsula areas face degradation and local extinction unless weed invasions are reversed and fragmentation of habitat arrested.
Biodiversity summary
Biodiversity summaries and species lists for the Port Phillip and Westernport region have been produced by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts using the Australian Heritage Assessment Tool.
For information visit: Biodiversity summaries and species lists for natural resource management regions
Contact
Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority manage this region.
For more information visit: www.ppwcma.vic.gov.au
Region summaries
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