The Mother of all fishing lures

LOUISA RUST

The ocean area off Wollongong and Port Kembla could be the site of a new offshore artificial reef, according to the Department of Primary Industries (DPI). The New South Wales Government, through the Recreational Fishing Trust, is planning to expand its artificial reef program to include a number of offshore reefs. The Department is investigating sites at Wollongong/Port Kembla, Sydney and Newcastle for the reefs, which aim to improve recreational fishing by increasing fish habitat. There are currently estuarine artificial reefs at Lake Macquarie, Botany Bay, and St Georges Basin. DPI Fisheries Enhancement Manager Heath Folpp said the project would establish the first purpose built offshore reefs in NSW. “In the 70s and 80s ships were sunk around the northern beaches of Sydney,” he said. “There were many ad hoc ways of creating artificial reefs.” “So other than that, these are the first full blown purpose-built designed offshore reefs in NSW.” The new reefs are made up of individual structures, or ‘units’ spaced apart from each other on the ocean floor. Mr Folpp said offshore reefs would require different shaped and sized units to the ‘balls’ used in estuarine reefs. “Estuarine reefs are in water that doesn’t have as much wave action,” he said. “Offshore structures have to be a lot bigger and a lot more robust to deal with storms.” “They are two story steel towers that are not unlike those big power line structures you see. They are a skeleton shape, with lots of complex surface area.” Mr Folpp said the reefs were placed in water 24-40 metres deep, and depending on environmental factors and the types of fish in the area, would extend from the bottom to anywhere between a third and three quarters of the way to the surface. He said the DPI hoped to establish reefs at Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong/Port Kembla within the next three to five years. Mr Folpp said once a site was selected an Environmental Assessment would be carried out by an external body. Minister for Primary Industries Ian MacDonald said scientific monitoring had shown the estuarine artificial reefs had been effective in attracting a variety of fish species including bream and snapper.