ARTIFICIAL reefs are being established on a trial basis in Victorian waters.
More than eight years after the proposal was raised, work started on placing three artificial reefs in Port Phillip Bay last month.
The reefs - Rec Reef, Tedesco Reef (after the late television fishing presenter Neil Tedesco), and Yakka Reef - are being built off Aspendale, Seaford and Frankston respectively.
Recreational anglers will have access to the reefs for the start of the 2009 snapper season.
Fisheries Victoria acting executive director Anthony Hurst said the three reefs and a buffer zone of about 1km would be closed to commercial fishing so their recreational use can be assessed.
"Each reef comprises 96 specially made concrete balls of different sizes, with a total weight of almost 30 tonnes," Mr Hurst said.
"They have been distributed in a special design over a square plot of 50m x 50m."
Fisheries is taking a cautious approach, emphasising the reefs are a three-year trial. Researchers will conduct ecological comparisons with nearby natural reef and soft-bottom habitats as well as monitoring fishing success.
The reefs will make snapper easier to find, so there is likely to be competition for more reefs in Port Phillip and other bays.
Fisheries Minister Joe Helper said the State Government recognised the important role the reefs would play in enhancing recreational fishing for all Victorians.
"We expect to see plenty of snapper calling these reefs home but also other fish including leatherjacket, wrasse, longfin pike, flathead, King George whiting, yellowtail scad and possibly yellowtail kingfish," he said.
The Member for Carrum, Jenny Lindell, said recreational fishing was a solid economic driver in her area as well as a healthy pastime for many locals and visitors.
The push from the angling fraternity to establish artificial reefs in Victoria goes back to 2001 and was based on the premise that if we have more structure in the bay, the fish, mainly snapper, would follow.
Evidence showed snapper were attracted to artificial reefs.
A committee comprising representatives of Victorian Fisheries, VRFish, and Futurefish was formed with that evidence in mind.
But then a long delay began, revolving around why anglers wanted artificial reefs and why some marine scientists were concerned about them.
Putting a reef into an area where historically no structure existed is not a natural process. Artificial reefs can change the fish population.
At Hervey Bay in southern Queensland, when an artificial reef was established, the fish population went from a sand or sea-grass community to reef fish.
In South Australia, tyre reefs and barges, plus a few hundred private reefs made from items such as whitegoods, cars and old boats, have been put down over traditional snapper grounds. The results have been dramatic.
When snapper move into the Spencer Gulf, for example, large numbers of fish aggregate around these structures.
Former Fisheries Victoria recreational fisheries manager Ross Winstanley has watched the development of these reefs.
"I'm hearing that the Government is dead keen about the popularity of this project and may not be ready to wait another three years before considering trials elsewhere," he said.
"Joe Helper is extremely chuffed about the response to the current trial and with an election due next year, a commitment to match a popular and well thought-out proposal should be very attractive.
"You can bet there'll be keen interest from angler groups in other parts of the bay, in Western Port and elsewhere. "Western Port will be at the top of Government thinking as it's virtually a recreational fishing haven since netting ceased 18 months ago," he said.
Ross, who lives in Geelong, says the next trial of artificial reefs should take place at the Geelong Arm.
"It should be a walk-up start for the next trial," he said.
"The 10 nautical mile stretch of ground south of the channel between Portarlington and Pt Wilson is devoid of natural reef and has snapper cruising year-round, with nothing attractive to hold them apart from the mussel farms.
"One criterion used in selecting sites for the current trial was minimising the impact on commercial fishing as they had to negotiate exclusion zones around those sites.
"Another criterion was depth, preferring water more than 10 metres deep and that suggests sites not far south of the channel," Ross said.
"North of the original site of the Clifton Springs mussel farms is one of several logical sites and the deeper edge of the southern extension of the Wilson spit is another."
As someone who fishes this area, I agree. Nothing I would like better than a few artificial reefs in my playground.
GPS CO-ORDINATES:
Aspendale: E 145. 04.616 - S 38. 02.168
Frankston: E 145. 05.479 - S 38. 08.483
Seaford: E 145. 05.953 - S 38. 05.245.
- Steve Cooper can be heard on the Casting Off program on Radio Sport927 between 4.30am and 6.30am on Saturdays.
