Thank you for sharing your feedback during round two consultation. We are reviewing your feedback and drafting reports.
Please take the time to look over the coastal hazard maps available below.

Through the Shire’s Our Coast Our Future, we’re developing a long-term plan to manage coastal hazard impacts across our region.

The Shire was awarded funding through the state government’s Victoria’s Resilient Coast grants program. This initiative aims to assist coastal land managers to deliver strategic coastal hazard risk management and adaptation.

The study area

Our Coast Our Future will include all our coastal communities along the Peninsula. We have grouped these communities into five areas. This allows us to explore community values, coastal processes and coastal hazards at a more localised scale.

Click on a region below to look a further detail related to your local area or favourite beach.

• Northern Port Phillip
• Central Port Phillip
• Southern Peninsula
• Southern Western Port
• Northern Western Port

A strategic approach to adaptation

The outcomes of this work allow us to better understand the region’s coastal hazards and possible implications for our local communities, now and into the future. With improved understanding of hazards and potential at-risk areas along our coastline, we can work to identify different ways to manage these locations through adaptation.

Our Coast Our Future will include the development of a Coastal Strategy to guide our adaptation planning and its implementation.

Understanding coastal hazards

The coastal hazards we’re assessing include erosion (sand loss), inundation (flooding) and changes to groundwater.

What are coastal hazards?

• Storm-tide inundation: temporary flooding of low-lying coastal land from elevated sea levels, often due to storm events;
• Coastal erosion: winds, waves, and coastal currents shift sediment (sand) away from the shoreline
• Permanent inundation: long-term inundation due to sea level rise (such as regular flooding from tides)
• Groundwater changes: groundwater (water table) rising nearer to the ground surface due climate change (including sea level rise). Shallow groundwater (<2m below the ground surface), is considered a hazard.

See our fact sheet series to find out more about coastal hazards.

Examining coastal hazards

We have been using range of existing coastal models, data sets and studies to estimate coastal hazards for the region. This has helped us identify areas along the Peninsula potentially impacted by different coastal hazard types for a range of current and future conditions (including sea level rise).

We have combined outputs from various coastal hazard models for the region’s marine and coastal areas. The estimated hazards are shown on the Our Coast Our Future hazard maps (see these maps in our document library).

We’re using these maps to determine coastal areas across the Mornington Peninsula that may be exposed to coastal inundation (flooding), erosion, sea level rise or changes to groundwater. The maps allow us to think about:

• what and where the hazards are
• when hazards may occur
• how they change over time

Our next steps are to assess risk and vulnerability of our coastal communities to determine where adaptation (hazard mitigation) might be necessary.

As part of our earlier engagement activities and events, we established a good appreciation of community coastal values and experiences. We’re now using a risk assessment to explore how coastal hazards might interact and impact on these important values, uses and infrastructure in the Peninsula's coastal areas.

We will be sharing these results with the community in the coming months. We are also incorporating the feedback we received in the recent round of engagement to help inform upcoming project stages when considering the roles of adaptation in managing risk.

CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

Help us make decisions for our changing coast

As part of the Our Coast Our Future project, we are examining coastal hazards and possible risks they pose for the Mornington Peninsula Shire and its communities.

Earlier in the project we looked at the important values and experiences our communities has with the coast. We’re now considering key information on local coastal hazards and risks, when and where they may occur, and what values and asset may be impacted into the future. We can use this information to inform and plan our management (adaptation) to reduce the level of risk we experience as our coast changes.

We want to share with our community some of the findings that are emerging from the assessment. Please take our 10 - 15 minute survey to provide your perspectives on coastal hazards and risk.

Combined with previous feedback we’ve already gathered from the community, your responses will help inform discussions on how we adapt to and manage coastal hazards across the Peninsula.

You may find it easier to complete this survey on a computer or larger screen.

Closed: This survey has concluded.

Have your say

Please complete our short survey for the Our Coast Our Future Coastal Strategy to provide us with your perspectives on:

• How you use and enjoy in the beaches, foreshore areas, estuaries, bays, inlets and coastal creeks of the Mornington Peninsula
• What you value about our coastal zones
• Previous experiences with coastal hazards
  

Your responses will help us understand more about the values of our communities and inform assessments on coastal hazard risk and possible management decisions for our Coastal Strategy.

This is the first of several surveys we are undertaking with our community as we develop the Coastal Strategy over the next year or two.

The Mornington Peninsula’s coastal areas include coastline, beaches, foreshore, inlets and estuaries of the region:

• Inside Port Phillip Bay from Mount Eliza to Point Nepean
• the open coast from Port Phillip Heads to entrance of Western Port Bay,
• Inside Western port Bay from Flinders to Somerville

The photo competition is now closed.

Photo competition

Capture what the Mornington Peninsula's coastlines mean to you!

Help us better understand what the Mornington Peninsula’s coastline means to you by submitting your favourite photos and go in the running to win a Wildlife Adventure Cruise with Moonraker Dolphins Swims.

Photos can be submitted under three age based categories:

1. Children (12 years or younger as of 31 December 2023)
2. Youth (13 to 17 years old as of 31 December 2023)
3. Adult (18 years and older as of 31 December 2023)

By submitting your photo, you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Entry Consent Form.