Port Phillip is by far the largest area of Australian sea that is almost entirely sheltered from the ocean. That is important for its distinctive flora and fauna, its landscapes and seascapes, for recreation in and near it, and for the use of water craft on it. Port Phillip and the land near it provided a significant reason for the siting and growth of the Melbourne metropolis, which has now become a large population centre whose activities and undefined growth are on such a scale as to imperil the long term conservation of Port Phillip, unless effective continual efforts are made by governments to avert that. 

DETAIL:  

Port Phillip is a large body of sheltered sea with a coastline of some 240 km. Some important accounts of Port Phillip, including recent scientific studies, are listed below as (a), (b) and (c); and provide invaluable baseline information against which the continuing conservation of Port Phillip can and should be regularly and frequently assessed by the principal Government authority managing it. 

That authority should be either a special organization dedicated to the management of the waters of Port Phillip and the public land adjacent to it, or be a defined section of a larger coastal body. Agreement by municipal authorities should also be sought for works or alterations proposed for the coastal land or waters of Port Phillip. Such proposals should also be consistent with the conservation and environment protection policies and treaties of the Commonwealth Government. 

The public land adjoining Port Phillip that is in a largely undeveloped state and is of sufficient area should become part of a State or National Park and be conserved, in accordance with the principles applying to such parks. 

This general policy should be taken in conjunction with the other more specific Policy Statements of the Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. 

(a) 'A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of that Vast Country, and Prosecuted in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803 in His Majesty's Ship the Investigator' by Matthew Flinders, Commander of the Investigator, Pages 211-221, London 1814 

(b)  'Port Phillip Survey 1957-1963', Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, No. 27, 1966 

(c)  'Port Phillip Bay Environmental Study', Final Report, June 1996, CSIRO Australia , ISBN 0-643-0597 

ADOPTION: 

This original version of PPCC Inc. Policy Statement No. 1 was adopted by a General Meeting of Port Phillip Conservation Council Inc. on 19th April 1999.