Port of Brisbane welcomes 765 mini reefs made from recycled shellfish shells to restore habitat and water quality!
What would you say if we told you that one fully grown shellfish can filter up to 180 litres of water a day, improving water quality and creating an environment that allows marine flora and fauna in estuaries and coastal waters to thrive?
Well, a clever project is taking advantage of this little-known fact, collecting more than one million shells which they’ve then recycled, cleaned, and repurposed.
The shells are being used to help restore shellfish reefs and improve fish habitat and water quality at Port of Brisbane. This innovative project has been made possible thanks to funding by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and is being run in partnership with our amazing friends at OzFish.
The shells are being used to help restore shellfish reefs and improve fish habitat and water quality at Port of Brisbane. This innovative project has been made possible thanks to funding by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and is being run in partnership with our amazing friends at OzFish.
Shellfish are powerful...but there are not many left
Shellfish are a crucial coastal ecosystem. They provide incredibly important functions in our marine ecosystems. They are fondly known as the 'kidneys of the coast' due to their natural filtration properties and ability to improve water clarity by drawing in particles and distributing them to the seafloor.
They also capture and store excess nutrients, provide habitat for juvenile fish, and support recreational fishing and tourism. Up until the turn of the last century, Moreton Bay supported thriving intertidal and subtidal shellfish beds.
These had long been a valuable food source for the area’s First Nations peoples, whose shellfish-rich diet is evident from the middens (accumulations of shell produced by First Nations peoples when collecting, cooking, and eating freshwater shellfish) that can be found on the island.
These days the shell middens found are providing valuable information about Aboriginal use of the coast and can show changes in diet, behaviour, activities, and settlement over the last 12,000 years. They are a vital part of First Nations’ cultural heritage.
When the first white settlements started putting down roots across Moreton Bay, it wasn’t long before they too realised the value of the once thriving species and developed a booming industry around it.
Unfortunately, over the last 200 years, the combined effects of overharvesting, disease, and water pollution have severely depleted native shellfish reefs in South East Queensland and Australia. Over 96% of the shellfish reefs within Moreton Bay have been lost, severely impacting their ecological functions.
Restoring shellfish reefs in the Moreton Bay area is paramount for the survival of marine ecosystems and for improving coastal water quality.
Over a million shellfish and counting
The project has coordinated a large-scale effort to collect and clean oyster shells to create mini reefs known as Robust Oyster Baskets (ROBs).
It is time-intensive work, but one million recycled shells have already been collected by OzFish volunteers from restaurants and businesses across Brisbane. This is thanks to some 200+ OzFish members and supporters who have dedicated over 2,900 hours to collecting and cleaning used oyster shells, out of which they’ve helped construct 765 mini reefs, using over 16.5 tonnes of shells!
Sneak peek at the latest deployment near the Port of Brisbane
Recently, Ozfish deployed 10 Robust Oyster Baskets (ROBs) near the Port of Brisbane to help restore local shellfish reefs and their vital filtering function.
These artificial reefs (1000 mm x 800 mm x 400 mm) have the potential to become home to living oysters and create a habitat that supports all sorts of marine wildlife such as fish, crabs, worms, and more. Not to mention cleaner water - the health and clarity of the water can be increased exponentially!
The monitoring phase of this project will allow us to collect data and measure outcomes which can then be used to justify and inform larger-scale restoration efforts in other areas of Moreton Bay.
This project is one component of a larger Shellfish Reef Restoration Program which aims to improve water quality through biofiltration and increasing fish stocks through enhancing fish habitat. It is one of several national and international projects that are collectively sharing learnings and building our knowledge on the use of shellfish restoration as a viable catchment health tool in South East Queensland.
Read through the full project snapshot here.
This project is supported by BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing, Port of Brisbane, and OzFish through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
