Getting a fish-eye view on habitat  

OzFishers have recently been ROVing around Port Phillip, getting a fish-eve view of their local fish habitats without even getting their feet wet! 

Members from both the Indented Head and newly formed OzFish Mornington chapter recently hit the water with Victorian OzFish Program Manager Ben Cleveland and Adrian Howard from the Port Phillip and Westernport CMA to investigate some future restoration sites for future community reef restoration efforts.  

Using OzFish’s ROV, or ‘Remotely Operated Vehicle’, the group checked out some recently established shellfish reef restoration efforts around Dromana, watching the seabed come to life as they slowly drifted over the new reef.  

“These reefs are part of the fantastic restoration work already undertaken in Port Phillip Bay led by The Nature Conservancy and others. Seeing their progress in real-time provided some great inspiration for our future reefs project with the PPWCMA” Ben said.  

The cutting-edge ROV technology allows fishers to get a fish-eye view of their coastal fish habitats and get a better understanding of the benefits of habitat restoration in real-time, with fish not fazed by the curious visitor.  

“I wish I had played more computer games as a kid! The unit uses a game controller for steering and takes a bit to get used to, but the fish seem quite curious about the unit, which makes ‘fishing for footage’ really interesting”, said Ben, the ROV operator for the day. 

Building on the fantastic large-scale shellfish restoration efforts already underway in Port Phillip, this project will focus on a smaller-scale, community-driven approach which will see fishers roll up their sleeves and help deploy reef substrate, monitor restoration progress and highlight rec fisher’s capabilities. 

“Working together with the PPWCMA, we’re hoping that this smaller approach and the direct community participation will increase the community’s awareness of the importance of shellfish reef habitats and support the great work going on nationally to bring them back from the brink”, said Ben. 

OzFishers also took some Baited Remote Underwater Video surveys at potential future restoration sites to provide baseline data for future monitoring, and of course, snuck in a bit of fishing along the way. 

This project is supported by Port Phillip and Westernport CMA, through funding from the Australian Government’s Fisheries Habitat Restoration Program.