Important Acronyms:
- EIA – Environmental Impact Assessment
- EPA – Environmental Protection Authority
- ESD – Environmental Scoping Document (outlines the scope, timing and procedure for the environmental review)
- ERD – Environmental Review Document
- PER – Public Environmental Review
- EP Act – Environmental Protection Act 1986
- DCCEEW – Department Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- EPBC – Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation
- EPBC Act – Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
- DMPA – Dredge Material Placement Area
Westport (Kwinana Container Port)
The WA Government is progressing Westport, a program to relocate container trade from Fremantle Port to a new purpose-built port at Kwinana by the late 2030s. Westport has unveiled its preferred design, centred on a new container terminal in the Kwinana Industrial Area, supported by new marine infrastructure in Cockburn Sound, upgraded road and rail freight links, and an expanded logistics network.
In March 2026, the Cook Government introduced the Westport Bill 2026 to Parliament to establish a statutory Westport Authority to oversee planning and delivery of the project. As a matter of national environmental significance, Westport will require both State and Federal environmental approval. Subject to those approvals and a final investment decision, construction is expected to commence in the late 2020s, with operations beginning in the late 2030s.
Given the scale of the proposed marine infrastructure in Cockburn Sound, this project will require ongoing WAFIC engagement as it moves into formal environmental assessment. WAFIC will keep a watching brief and engage as environmental referral documentation becomes available, in the meantime if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].
Water Corporation water source planning in – Albany
After plans for seawater desalination in Frenchman Bay were ruled out, Water Corporation are now investigating new areas for potential seawater desalination near Albany.
The areas are:
- Nanarup South Coast
- Sandpatch
Geotechnical investigations commenced in March 2026 at Nanarup Beach, involving low-impact drilling to assess soil, rock and groundwater properties, and Water Corporation has established a community consultation group for the broader Lower Great Southern water source planning process. Further information including fact sheets and maps with the site options can also be found on the project webpage. WAFIC will share more information with potentially impacted licence holders as more information becomes available.
If you have any comments/concerns regarding this project, or would like a briefing from Water Corporation, please contact [email protected].
Eramurra Solar Salt Project
Leichhardt Salt Pty Ltd is proposing to develop a solar salt project in the Cape Preston East area, approximately 55 km southwest of Karratha in WA.
The proposal includes the development of a series of concentrator and crystalliser ponds and a processing plant. Supporting infrastructure includes seawater intake, bitterns outfall, desalination plant and groundwater bores, power supply and other infrastructure.
Export of product would be via a previously approved trestle jetty at Cape Preston East Port. However, the proposal includes dredging at Cape Preston East Port with offshore and onshore dredge material disposal options.
Disturbance would be up to 14,300 ha within the terrestrial ponds development envelope, 90 hectares within the marine development envelope, and 320 ha within the dredge spoil disposal development envelope.
The ERD’s Public Environmental Review period closed on 14 August 2025, in which WAFIC reviewed and made an industry informed submission to the EPA. The proposal is now with the EPA for formal assessment.
WAFIC will continue to keep a watching brief on this proposal, if you have any questions/comments, please contact [email protected].
Offshore wind licence announcement in Bunbury
On 23 January 2026, DCCEEW granted final feasibility licences to all three shortlisted offshore wind projects in the declared Bunbury offshore wind zone: the Bunbury Offshore Wind Project in the northern area, the Bunbury Offshore Wind Project in the southern area, and the Westward Wind Project. Combined, the projects could deliver approximately 4 GW of offshore wind capacity across a combined licence area of over 700 km².
Feasibility licences run for up to seven years, during which developers will undertake environmental assessments, site investigations and community consultation, ahead of any application for a commercial licence. A Bunbury Wind Industry Committee has been established to oversee the projects and ensure local benefits are delivered.
WAFIC and commercial fishers should expect to be consulted as environmental assessment and site investigation activities commence under the feasibility licences.
Water Corporation is investigating new water sources in Exmouth
Water Corporation is currently investigating new water sources in Exmouth to meet projected future demand.
In July 2025, Water Corporation confirmed seawater desalination as the preferred option for Exmouth’s next drinking water source. The groundwater expansion option south of Exmouth has been ruled out due to insufficient volume, rainfall dependence, and environmental and cultural concerns in Conservation Parks and Cape Range National Park.
Exmouth is now forecast to need an extra 1.5 billion litres of drinking water annually by 2060. Planning is progressing to confirm a preferred site and design for the Exmouth Seawater Desalination Plant (SDP) intake and outfall, with environmental approvals to follow. Project delivery is expected within five years, subject to approvals.
Further information including fact sheets and maps with the SDP site options can also be found on the project webpage.
WAFIC has notified all potentially impacted fishers in the Exmouth region. If you have any comments/concerns regarding this project, or would like a briefing from Water Corporation, please contact [email protected].
Water Corporation Onslow Seawater Desalination Plant
To secure Onslow’s long-term water future, Water Corporation is progressing construction of a new seawater desalination plant. The reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant with an initial capacity of 1.5 million litres per day (MLD) is nearing completion.
Marine pipeline works in Beadon Bay are now complete, and the intake structure was completed by the end of 2025. Commissioning of the plant’s operating systems is now underway, alongside ongoing building construction and road works.
WAFIC has distributed a fact sheet to relevant commercial fishers, however if you have any comments/questions regarding this project or would like to get in touch with Water Corporation, please contact [email protected]. More details of the project are available on the Water Corporation website here.
Water Corporation’s Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant
Water Corporation is currently constructing the Alkimos Seawater Desalination Plant (ASDP) as part of Perth’s Integrated Water Supply Scheme, which aims to provide additional sources of drinking water to supplement the existing metropolitan water supply.
Marine construction continues to progress. All piling work at both the intake and outfall locations is now complete, and installation of the outfall diffuser is currently underway, with outfall works expected to be completed by mid-2026. Tunnelling for the intake and outfall pipelines was completed in May 2026, and the Alkimos-to-Wanneroo trunk main is now over 50% complete. First water production remains planned for 2028.
WAFIC continues to participate in the Community Reference Panel that provides Alkimos residents and relevant stakeholders with opportunities to engage in two-way consultation.
If you have any comments/questions regarding this project or would like to get in touch with Water Corporation, please contact [email protected]. More details of the project are available on Water Corporation website here.
Optimised Mardie Project
BCI Minerals is currently constructing a salt project and export facility, located at Mardie, 80 kilometres south-west of Karratha. The construction of the marine structures, including the jetty, is progressing, with significant dredging required to achieve the necessary depth for both the berth pocket and a 4.9-kilometre channel leading to deeper water.
Following WAFIC’s earlier formal objection to BCI Minerals and DCCEEW regarding the proposed offshore DMPA disposal site, the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment has now granted approval under both the EPBC Act (28 November 2025) and the Sea Dumping Act (18 December 2025) for the offshore disposal of dredge spoil.
Dredging of the berth pocket and transshipment channel commenced on 21 April 2026, with dredged material being disposed of at the offshore DMPA4 site, 15 nautical miles north of the Mardie jetty. By the end of June 2026, more than 100,000 cubic metres had been dredged, and the marine construction package was reported at 95% complete.
WAFIC will keep a watching brief on this project as it moves into the dredging phase, in the meantime if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].
Gascoyne Gateway Marine Complex
Gascoyne Gateway proposes to build, own, and operate a multipurpose marine complex located approximately 10 kilometres south of Exmouth township. This facility will accommodate a variety of vessels, including, but not limited to, cruise liners, Defence and marine supply vessels, and support associated ecotourism activities.
The proposal includes a land-based component designed to support the marine infrastructure, covering a 61.63 ha marine footprint within a 79.44 ha development envelope. Key elements of the proposal include fuel storage, solar energy production, a jetty and causeway (wharf), a desalination plant with brine discharge via a pipeline fixed to the jetty and causeway, construction and maintenance dredging for the shipping channel and turning basin and three anchorage locations within Exmouth Gulf. The ESD, which WAFIC made a submission on, was approved in 2022.
Following the EPA’s approval of amendments to reduce the terrestrial footprint (while retaining elements that could significantly impact the marine environment, as outlined above), the EPA continues to require additional information from the proponent before the assessment can proceed. This remains an active EPA assessment.
More information on this proposal is available on the EPA website here.
WAFIC will be keeping a watching brief on this proposal, in the meantime if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].
Murchison Green Hydrogen
The Australian Government and Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) have awarded MGH project $814 million as part of its first Hydrogen Headstart funding round and has been awarded major project status by the Federal Minister for Industry and Science, a status which enables projects facing complex regulatory challenges to get extra support and coordinated approvals.
The proposed location of the project is approximately 20 kilometres north of Kalbarri and includes a wind and solar farm, a desalination plant, a facility to produce green ammonia and an ammonia export facility, including a pipeline, export vessel mooring, and product transfer infrastructure.
Following further design changes lodged with regulators, which increase the marine footprint further, the ERD submission to environmental regulators has been pushed back to Q4 2026 (previously expected mid-2025), with public review and comment now not expected until 2027. Construction is still expected to begin in 2027, lasting approximately five years. In April 2026, the project was also selected as one of four projects nationally to participate in the first “Investor Front Door” pilot, intended to streamline government approvals for major projects.
Given the scale of impact from a potential ammonia spill, as well as the effects of desalination and other associated marine infrastructure associated with this project on commercial fisheries and the marine environment, WAFIC will be making a submission in response to the ERD once it is released for comment.
WAFIC will be keeping a watching brief on this project, in the meantime if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].
Water Corporation water source planning in Great Southern Region
Water Corporation has officially shelved its plans for a desalination plant that would release hypersaline wastewater and cleaning agents into Frenchman Bay.
The decision follows an announcement by Premier Roger Cook confirming the plant will not proceed in this area following significant pressure from a number of impacted sectors, including fisheries, aquaculture, tourism and broader community voices.
Water Corporation is now exploring other options to increase water supply to the region (see the Albany update above).
WAFIC would like to thank those fishers who were active in standing against this project, and for those fishers who provided feedback that informed WAFIC’s formal objection submission to Water Corporation.
For more details on Water Corporation Southern Region water source investigations, visit their website.
Sino Iron Project
CITIC Pacific Mining (CPM) plans to undertake a capital dredging programme at the Port of Cape Preston, where magnetite concentrate is exported. This dredging will return the harbour to natural depth and enable CPM contractors to utilise vessels with a deeper draft and larger capacity.
CPM has already received approval through the EPA to undertake dredging and is authorised to approximately 4.5 million cubic metres of dredged material. CPM’s Sea Dumping Permit application with DCCEEW to dispose of dredged material at an offshore DMPA remains on foot. Note that the Commonwealth’s new National Environmental Protection Agency was established on 1 July 2026, and sea dumping functions are transitioning to nationalepa.gov.au, which may affect where future updates on this application are published.
CPM has informed WAFIC that after having undertaken modelling of dredge plumes and evaluation of potential environmental impacts to marine and benthic organisms to support the Sea Dumping Permit Application, CPM does not believe there are potential impacts to commercial fisheries in the area. WAFIC has distributed information on this proposal to relevant licence holders and received minimal feedback.
If this proposal concerns you or you have any comments/questions, please contact [email protected].
Cambridge Gulf Marine Sand
Boskalis Australia is proposing to source marine sands from Cambridge Gulf, north of Wyndham, for export to overseas construction projects.
The proposal is vessel-based with a life span of up to 15 years and will involve a Sand Production Vessel and a large Trailer Suction Hopper Dredger. The operational area is 100 km² in the central part of Cambridge Gulf and is proposed to export up to 70 million cubic metres of sand over the 15-year project time frame.
Given the impacts of dredging on the marine environment and the sheer scale of the project, WAFIC made a submission to the EPA requesting a PER, the most extensive review option. The EPA has instead assessed the proposal based on the initial referral information, releasing its report in November 2025 recommending conditional approval. The proposal remains subject to a parallel federal EPBC Act assessment, which has not yet concluded, with a final decision resting with the WA Minister for Environment.
WAFIC will be keeping a watching brief on the outcome of the appeals and the Minister’s decision, in the meantime if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].
Western Green Energy Hub
The Western Green Energy Hub is a proposal to design, construct and operate a large-scale wind and solar power project for green ammonia production. The proposal is located within a 2,269,015 hectare development envelope extending from the far southeast of Western Australia in the Shire of Dundas and City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, to the northwest of Eucla in the South Coast Region. The coastal and offshore components comprise a marine offloading facility, desalination plant, brine pipeline and an ammonia (or other vector) export pipeline, set within State Waters only, requiring 198 hectares of permanent seabed clearance.
Given the scale of impact from a potential ammonia spill, as well as the effects of desalination and other associated marine infrastructure on south coast commercial fisheries and the marine environment, WAFIC’s preferred option for decision by the EPA was Assess – PER, the most extensive review option. The EPA determined the proposal requires a PER, aligning with WAFIC’s submission. As of February 2026, the project has progressed through the Lodgement/Validation/Referral Decision stages under the EPBC Act, with assessment guidelines issued, and has signed a Feasibility Phase Agreement with Chinese and South Korean partners to progress Stage 1. No ERD has yet been released for public comment.
The proponent has not yet engaged in consultation with WAFIC, however if you have any comments/questions regarding this project, please contact [email protected].