OzFish turn old shell into new fish in Port Philip Bay

Fish habitat charity OzFish dropped a tonne of shell off a boat in Port Philip Bay on Thursday, in a move to help to clean the bay, and turn diners’ food scraps into more fish for Victorians.

With the Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA), OzFish is repurposing shell that would have otherwise gone to landfill, to help baby oysters and other shellfish settle and grow into reefs.

OzFish Victoria Manager Andy Foudoulis said, “We’re deploying sanitised shell into the bay, in a join-the-dots effort to create good conditions for shellfish and fish populations between existing artificial reefs – known as reef balls.”

Installed by the VFA between 2009 and 2012 to help support fish numbers, reef balls are concrete structures that mimic the function of a natural reef. The reefs support shellfish to grow, in turn providing places for recreationally popular species such as snapper, King George whiting and calamari to hide, feed and breed.

“Historically, a lot of the shellfish reefs were harvested out of the bay – it’s now just a lot of barren, sandy surface,” said Mr Foudoulis. “The reef balls provide structure for fish, but they are often far apart and we’re changing that by forming connecting shellfish reef. We want baby oysters to settle into our reefs at spawning time. If they have nowhere to settle, they drift out to sea. Without baby oysters, formation of new reefs is basically impossible. No reefs mean nowhere for fish to feed and breed, so no fish, and without oysters the water isn’t as clean.”

Now, thanks to a collaboration with Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and funding from Sustainability Victoria, OzFish is closing the loop on shellfish waste.

Once a week, OzFishers drive around to Mornington Peninsula restaurants and seafood wholesalers, collecting discarded oyster, mussel and scallop shells. The shell is processed and cleaned at OzFish’s shell recycling centre in Flinders, and then six months later is ready to return to the ocean.

Last month, the first shell deployment saw 800 kg of recycled shell put back in the water in Frankston, by members of the East Port Phillip Bay OzFish Chapter – with more to come.

“In the next two years, we are going to put 10 tonnes of shell across six sites in the bay. Shellfish reefs are essential for sustainable fish populations, the health of our waterways and better fishing,” said Mr Foudoulis. “It’s a form of alchemy – transforming waste into more fish.”

OzFish encourages fishers and Bay lovers to get involved. Regular shell cleaning and bagging days are held through the East Port Phillip Bay Chapter, followed by on-water deployment trips. Mr Foudoulis said, “We’re encouraging local fishing clubs, divers and community groups to sign up to the Chapter. If you care about fish and fishing in the bay, this is your chance to give back.”

OzFish’s oyster reef restoration work in Queensland was recently granted $1.5 million as a pre-election pledge from the federal government.

The Reef Ball project is funded by recreational fishing licence fees through the Victorian Fisheries Authority, and supported by Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing and other valued partners.

The Shellsavers project is supported by Sustainability Victoria, a Victorian Government initiative, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council and BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing.

Media Contact

To learn more or arrange an interview with Andy Foudoulis, email [email protected] or call +61 406 132 948.

About OzFish

OzFish is a not-for-profit member organisation that partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of waterways, counteracting decades of degradation with projects in habitat restoration, re-snagging, riverbank planting, clean-ups, fishways, shellfish reefs and educational and community capacity-building programs.