
Prom Coast Ecolink
4 Jan 2025
A summer weekend in Port Welshpool - a unique area of environmental significance
We had a great time at the 2025 Port Welshpool Seadays Festival!
Now in its 21st year, the festival ran over the 4th-5th of January and offered countless opportunities for visitors to engage with the remarkable South Gippsland coastal environment.
The festival takes place in the Old Ferry Terminal (who remembers the SeaCat Tasmania?) and Prom Coast Ecolink hosted a stand next to a discovery tank filled with sea stars collected by divers that morning. Snake Island and Wilsons Prom provided the backdrop and it was a spectacular way to spend a summer weekend. Â
A big thank you to our member Megan, who generously volunteered her time and resources to provide free face painting at the festival on Sunday.
Port Welshpool's location is unique and plays a vital role in the ecological integrity of the Prom Coast. It sits between Corner Inlet and Nooramunga Marine & Coastal Parks and is shielded from the rough surf of Bass Strait by natural sand barriers and the Prom.
These sheltered waters create an intricate network of waterways and islands of outstanding environmental significance and include one of 64 wetland areas in Australia listed under the Ramsar Convention.
This internationally listed wetland protects 67,186 hectares of diverse habitats, including coastal woodlands, vast mangrove communities, saltmarsh areas, intertidal zones, and unique marine values, such as Broadleaf Seagrass forests.
This ecosystem is incredibly important for both local and international biodiversity, including habitat for visiting migratory birds who make up to a 13,000 km round trip just to be here.
We can’t wait to come again and work alongside such a broad array of coastal advocates.
Thanks to the Port Welshpool Working Group for organising Seadays — your efforts are commendable.
It was great to connect with familiar faces from Coastcare (Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action), Victorian Fishing Authority (VFA), Port Welshpool Coast Guard, C.F.A Welshpool, Star of the South, Black Snake Productions, Jawbone Marine Sanctuary, Myli, Port Welshpool Horticultural Society, Great Southern Ride, Friends of Agnes Falls, Port Welshpool Maritime Museum and Yarram Lions.