Melbourne port to pay US$890,000 for eco project
Port of Melbourne will pay US$890,000 for shellfish habitat reef restoration in partnership with The Nature Conservancy Australia (TNC) to remediate dredged seafloor to restore shellfish reefs in Phillip Bay, reports London's Port Technology International.
Dredged grounds are areas of seafloor set aside for the placement of sand and mud which have been cleared from navigation channels.
The trial commenced on February 4, using a mix of recycled shell from TNC's Shuck Don't Chuck project and local limestone rock to form a new reef base on the seafloor. These reef bases will be seeded with 400,000 Australian Flat Oysters, which will continue to grow and attach to the reef base and each other.
Over time, they will create a living reef, filtering water, and attracting a diversity of fish and aquatic life. Shellfish reefs once dominated up to half of Port Phillip Bay's seafloor. However, as a consequence of historical overfishing, compounded by catchment-to-coast runoff and other factors, they are now considered an ecologically collapsed ecosystem.
source:SchedNet
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