Freshwater Bay (Western Australia)

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Freshwater Bay, in the Australian state of Western Australia, includes the Claremont Foreshore of the Swan River. Though dull at first sight, Freshwater Bay plays host to a large variety of plants, animals, soil and rocks, all dependent on each other for survival.

Contents 1 Soil and Parent Rock 2 Fauna 3 Vegetation 4 Physical Interaction 5 Human Interaction

[edit] Soil and Parent Rock

The soil around the Freshwater bay area varies depending on where you stand. On the riverbank, the sand is a pale yellow and is saturated with river water. This is called Calcerous Soil, which is relatively fertile and is usually saturated with the river water. Further inland, the sand becomes rockier and dryer until it suddenly changes to Silicaceous soil, which is black, around the base of the slope.

Further up the slope, the soil turns to a paler brown and the ground is also less compacted and thus does not support much weight. The soft soil on the slope is also easily eroded by wind, rain and human impact. The soil is also washed down the slope during rain, thus increasing the fertility and depth of the salicaceous soil at the bottom.

Silicaceous soil, being sandy and unable to retain water, thus fairly infertile, does not support much plant life. Plants in Australia have adapted to this condition through various means. Plants on river level have deep roots, thus being able to have access to river or bore water. However, as ground level increases plant’s roots do not go deep enough to access ground water, thus the bush thins as it rises up the slope.

At the top of the slope, there are limestone cliffs that are pockmarked with small caves and holes by erosion. Since limestone is a sedimentary rock, the number of holes and caves are numerous, as the rock face is easily eroded by wind, rain and human impact. There are also limestone cliffs further along Freshwater Bay ending right at the water’s edge. These limestone cliffs have been turned black from of the usual yellow due to previous oil leaks, spills and the black silicaceous soil. These limestone cliffs have been largely affected by erosion. Some parts of MLC and CCGS are also built on top of the limestone cliffs.

[edit] Fauna

Freshwater Bay is home to a large amount of animals, but that does not mean that they are easily spotted. A noon, it is almost impossible to spot any wildlife save for the odd blowie carcass or the solo Willy Wagtail. But at early sunrise, a multitude of brown sparrows can often be found flying around the bushes behind the CCGS chapel. Ospreys, eagles, black swans, pelicans and even the common seagulls are rare sights along the CCGS – MLC portion of Freshwater bay. Possums also live at Freshwater bay, but they usually only come out at night.

As if to compensate for the sparse wildlife along the foreshore, the bay itself is filled with hundreds of fish and marine life. Schools of black bream, flounders, flatheads, blowies and mullet can often be seen whilst diving, with mullet sometimes coming close enough to shore to be seen by the naked eye. Freshwater bay is also frequented by dolphins an, unfortunately, bull and bronze whaler sharks. This multitude of marine life, not to mention coral, has created a vast, beautiful, underwater world with a view, fit for a king.

[edit] Vegetation

As you walk along Freshwater Bay, you would see many green plants, trees, and bushes, all either native or introduced to Freshwater Bay. Of the few remaining native plants, Tuart and Marri trees still survive and grow along Freshwater Bay.

Although innocent at first sight, Freshwater Bay is infested with a large variety of introduced plant species, including Conifer and Pine trees. One of the most common weeds found on the foreshore is the Watsonia, with its upright leaves and usually its purple flower. These weeds first grew atop the limestone cliffs but many were pulled out and thrown over the cliffs by early MLC and CCGS gardeners. This build up of weeds led to the eventual growth, or may I say: “Rise” of the Watsonia weed.

Also a common sight at Freshwater Bay is the bamboo and giant reed bamboo plant. They were first planted to prevent foreshore erosion, but when bamboo numbers began to rise uncontrollably, their original use was forgotten. The Swan River Trust is thus now trying to promote the destruction of bamboo along the foreshores.

[edit] Physical Interaction

The physical environment of Freshwater Bay is always in contact with the various plants and animals around it. Limestone cliffs around Freshwater bay act as a haven to many types of birds as they can nest in the holes in the rock face for eat berries from bushes growing from the cliffs.

The plants of Freshwater Bay also benefit from the slopes from MLC and CCGS. When the soil on the slopes are washed and eroded away by the wind and rain, it is all washed down to the bottom of the slopes, increasing the soil thickness level. With an increased soil thickness and some river soil (Calcerous soil) plants along Freshwater Bay thrive, whereas plants on the slopes do not.

The spit at Point Walter’s is a very good example of physical interactions between different parts of nature. A process called the longshore drift created the spit. A longshore spit is when the river’s current pulls sediment, basically sand, along until it reaches an opening like a cove or bay. As there is no current in a bay, there is not enough pull from the river water to continue moving the sand. This results in the sand being deposited at the opening of the bay, and after many years of acumination, it turns into a spit. In the case of Point Walter’s spit, it has been around for such a long time, that the spit has covered the whole distance across Freshwater Bay. As a cause of this, the spit limits the flow of water between the Swan River and Freshwater bay, thus leaving Freshwater Bay with almost perfectly still water, perfect for water recreation.

[edit] Human Interaction

The people of WA have “adapted” to Freshwater Bay, adding their own touches here and there, positive and negative. Algae blooms have multiplied with our continual use of plant and soil fertilizers, whereas the Swan River Trust constantly undertakes rehabilitation projects, fixing what damage we have done. Thus we must be careful of what we do, for we are in danger for losing our “Freshwater” Bay forever.

One of the many uses of Freshwater Bay is that it has been labelled a “Ski Area”. Due to Point Walter’s spit and the high surrounding limestone cliffs, Freshwater Bay has relatively calm water and winds, making the area perfect for jet skiing, rowing, sailing and other water recreations. Freshwater Bay is also proudly the owner of the Royal Fresh Water Bay Yacht Club (RFBYC), which holds classes and allots docking space for members’ boats.

Sadly, all these water activities come with a price. The odd boat sometimes leaks its oil, partially suffocating the river water and staining the limestone cliff faces. The bottom of most boats are also covered with barnacle remover wax, which does nothing in the short term, but one of its long term effects is that the wax is toxic and can cause a large number of barnacles or mussels to lose their sex and become impotent. This renders the affected barnacles or mussels useless in reproduction, thus drastically lowering their population levels.

If one was to look closer at the CCGS to MLC portion of the Freshwater Bay slopes, he would find abandon socks, sweet wrappers and old pieces of paper. All of which are just either lying around on the ground or stuffed into the small holes or caves in the cliff face. Littering is a huge problem in our society today, both in ethical means and obvious reasons. Most of the wildlife in our world today thinks that rubbish on the ground is edible and can be considered “food”. Sadly, most of the rubbish found in Freshwater Bay (excluding the numerous socks) are made of plastic and can take up to a thousand years to fully decompose. Now think of the number of generations of animals that could choke on this piece of plastic and die. This sums up to a few hundreds of generations of animals that are in danger of dying, just because one irresponsible couldn’t keep his/her sweet wrapper in their pocket for just another extra five minutes.

One final “punch” we have done to the biosphere of Freshwater bay, is that acres of land is being cleared to build houses, schools and sheds. Almost every new homebuyer in Perth wants to have a view of the “picturesque” river, thus resulting in more land cleared so that people can have a view of the river, and a view of other people having their houses built over the “trees” portion of their “picturesque” view.

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