A strong stench has been emanating from Beach Road in Metung for the past few weeks.

The Advertiser last week witnessed people walking along the road above the water’s edge holding their noses.

Paul Thorstenson, of Brighton, who has a holiday home in Metung, said he believed the foul smell was coming from seagrass washing up on the foreshore.

“The swans are feeding off it, but I think we’ll need another storm to wash it away,” Mr Thorstenson said.

“It’s a regular occurrence, depending on the wind and weather conditions, but it is more prevalent in summer because of the heat.

“Sadly, it’s not a great introduction for tourists,” Mr Thorstenson said.

“You have to wade through it to go for a swim.”

In some seaside municipalities machiery is used by councils to rake the beaches, however Mr Thorstenson conceded it would be difficult to access parts of the foreshore in Beach Road.

Denise and John Farmery, who own a holiday home further along Beach Road, said they had noticed the smell emanating from the beach over the past five years.

“It’s the worst it’s ever been, I’ve never noticed so much seaweed and mussel shells washing up on the sand,” Mrs Farmery said.

“It actually seems to be less sand and more mussels.”

The Farmerys say the stench is worse around the Mairburn Road end of Beach Road.

“Whether the tides have changed or what, I don’t know, but there seems to be a bit of erosion as well,” Mrs Farmery said.

Another woman, with her two children, said the stench wasn’t unusual.

“My family has been holidaying here for three generations and the smell occurs when seaweed washes up on the beach and the sun burns it. It will be gone soon,” she said, as one of her daughters held her nose.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said it wasn’t aware of any issues.

A spokesperson for East Gippsland Water told the Advertiser “the smell seems very similar to what hung over Jones Bay (Bairnsdale) some 14 months ago, when we had a hot spell of weather and very little rain”.

The spokesman described that odour as “naturally occurring, caused by decaying vegetation and rotting shellfish in the Lakes”.

East Gippsland Water said it had carried out a thorough check of its operations in the Tambo Bluff and Metung areas.

“We are satisfied that the smell is not emanating from any of our infrastructure,” the spokesman said.

PICTURED: Seaweed washing up on Beach Road, near Mairburn Road, in Metung, is thought to be the cause of a foul smelling odour that has been noticed by local residents.