Reef Ball Rejuvenation Project
Community driven
restoration project
Six 700m2
of shellfish reefs to be created
Raise awareness
on the importance of shellfish reefs in the bay
Shell Savers
In 2009 – 2012, The VFA (Victorian Fisheries Authurity) deployed concrete reef balls across 6 locations in the bay to recreate lost structure. This project is designed to have local anglers and community members infill the reef balls using recycled shell from the shell savers project and TNC’s “Shuck don’t chuck program to create a larger reef footprint, more complex habitat, natural recruitment of native shellfish and overall better fishing opportunities for iconic species
Community driven
Community members will be creating these important ecosystems by deploying shell across each reef ball location. The aim is to have anglers/volunteers be taken out on a boat with bagged shell that will then be deployed over the side of the boat over the concrete reef balls. This will occur late 2024 and continue to late 2026. Additional monitoring of fish species will be conducted during this time by using bruv’s.
Boat based reefs
Shore based recreational fishing reefs
Improving habitat
To improve the overall marine ecosystem health (water quality, fish productivity) by eliminating fragmentation of established reef habitats increasing overall habitat area. This project will also likely aid in the bay’s resilience to impending climate change impacts by buffering erosion through shoreline protection, sequestering carbon and filtering and uptake of excess nutrients. We want to enhance the effects of previous work by connecting these reef balls and improving the overall habitat by encouraging settlement of key habitat-building species such as the native Australian flat oyster (Ostrea angasi).
