MOVING commercial horse trainers from Killarney to Mills Reef was “relocating the problem”, according to a community environmental group.
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South West Owners, Trainers & Riders Association (SWOTRA) spokeswoman Tammy Good said horses would be off Killarney beach by December 1 as an act of goodwill ahead of a likely Moyne Shire vote to prohibit them on December 20.
However Ms Good said SWOTRA members wanted another beach to use, preferably Mills Reef between the western end of the Port Fairy Golf Club and the eastern end of the former East Beach tip site.
Bill Yates, spokesman for the Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group, said Mills Reef wasn’t suitable either.
“There are a whole host of reasons why (horse training) shouldn’t be happening up there too – it’s relocating the problem,” Mr Yates said.
He said the issues of public safety and the effect on native wildlife remained.
Mr Yates said maps from Parks Victoria and the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) were out of date if they claimed there were no hooded plovers in the area.
“The person who does the monitoring of hooded plovers in the area has found nests (at Mills Reef),” he said.
There was also the issue of erosion near the former East Beach tip site, which would be exacerbated by the presence of dozens of horses, Mr Yates said.
“That’s the area where they’ve had problems of the old tip being exposed and having horses riding up the soft sand where there’s erosion issues ... I don’t think that’s going to improve the situation at all,” he said.
BCRAG members have already reported horses trainers using Mills Reef and taking their horses “all the way up to the residential area” and have called for the beach around Killarney to be declared a coastal park.
The Belfast Coastal Reserve Action Group (BCRAG) held a community day at Killarney beach on Saturday which attracted 120 people.
Killarney resident and BCRAG member Shane Howard said the creation of a coastal park would create regulations that would help protect the beach.
Mr Howard said only 585 hooded plovers remained in Victorian with 10 per cent of that population calling Killarney beach home –a population that was being put at risk by industrial-level horse training.
