Last week marked a very special occasion for the community of Esperance, as their long-held dream of an artificial reef close to town has been realised.
Cooper Reef, named after local community champion Graham Cooper was deployed!
Watch the video below to see some deployment footage from last week
Who is Graham Cooper?
Graham is an inaugural member of the Esperance Deep Sea Angling Club and is one of the driving forces to getting a new reef for his community.
Graham has also played a huge role in the fishing safety space by educating almost 10,000 school students on the south coast about fishing safety over the last decade.
Graham has also been instrumental in leading fishing safety initiatives in Esperance, Ravensthorpe and Hopeton. He has pushed for public safety equipment – such as angel rings and rock anchor points – to be installed at high-risk fishing South Coast fishing locations.
Graham is also a Recfishwest safety ambassador for the Fish and Survive campaign and the chairperson of the South East Coast Recreational Fishing Council.
In his spare time, Graham enjoys fishing for demersal species off Esperance!
The Recfishwest team are proud to have been a part of this project from the beginning. However, full credit must go to the tireless team of local volunteers who made this vision a reality.
Read more about Cooper Reef in the Esperance Express!
Click here for Cooper Reef’s exact coordinates or find out more about the other artificial reefs we have deployed here.
To read more about Cooper Reef’s construction process, click here.
