Tag: mandurah artificial reef

Check out the stunning marine life brimming around the artificial reefs off Mandurah and Perth!

Check this out, metro fishers – large schools of fish being spotted on our Perth “Fish Towers” and Mandurah artificial reefs picked up by our latest scientific monitoring using baited underwater cameras!

Recfishwest’s regular and ongoing monitoring of the “Rotto Fish Towers” and Mandurah artificial reefs – with the assistance of Indo-Pacific Environmental – has shown big schools of fish with pink snapper, yellowtail kingfish, Samsonfish, skippy, baldchin groper and many other popular species captured swimming around these reefs that recreational fishers love to catch.

Tackleworld Miami owner Ashley Ramm says the reefs are a great attraction for local fishers with small to medium size boats.

“It’s great to see the Mandurah artificial reef thriving in an area where there isn’t much structure on the seafloor,” said Ashley. “It’s particularly good to see good numbers of yellowtail kingfish there, as unlike around Perth, there aren’t many spots off Mandurah where kingies naturally occur.

“Having somewhere to fish where these popular pelagic species turn up fairly regularly off Mandurah is a great development. The more we learn about artificial reefs and their potential benefits to our complex marine environment the better.”

WA’s network of artificial reefs, using concrete modules and/or steel, continues to support flourishing marine habitats that underpin fantastic fishing experiences.

“This latest footage showcasing a wide range of species flourishing across these metro-based artificial reefs is why Recfishwest is working hard with regional coastal communities, industry partners and the Government to develop more artificial reefs all around the State. There are several artificial reefs proposing to use concrete modules and/or repurposed steel in the pipeline around WA that we’re hoping will hit the seafloor in the next 12 months,” said Recfishwest’s Policy and Approvals Officer Danielle Hartshorn.

Scientific monitoring programs like the one that captured this exciting vision are an integral part of our vision to conserve and enhance marine habitat to support ecosystem productivity and great fishing.

Want to know more about the artificial reefs currently deployed around WA and their coordinates? Check out our Artificial Reefs webpage by clicking here!

Mandurah Artificial Reef

The Mandurah Artificial Reef has been deployed. At a total cost of just over $1.1 million, the reef is the first in Western Australia to be solely paid for by the recreational fishing community. The reefs were funded through the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund by recreational fishing licence fees.

The purpose-built reef consists of 30 cubic reinforced concrete modules, arranged in clusters of five modules. Each module is 3m x 3m x 3m, weighs 10 tonnes, has a surface area of 30m2 and has an internal volume of 27m3.

The module design is the same as those used in the south west artificial reefs, being a hollow cube with curved cross braces. The design is aimed to promote upwelling (bringing nutrient rich water from the sea floor to the surface creating phytoplankton and zooplankton blooms, providing the basis for productive food chains) as well as create varied complex spaces and habitats which act as shelter for fish.

The reef is located 9km from shore being easily accessible for boats leaving from the Mandurah Estuary mouth or the Dawesville Cut. In 25m depth the reef is spread across four hectares of barren desert-like seafloor which had little marine life prior to reef deployment.

The deployment of the reefs, announced by the Fisheries Minister, the Honourable Joe Francis MLA, was the last stage of a long community driven process to get the reefs in the water. Both Port Bouvard Recreation and Sporting Club as well as the Mandurah Offshore Fishing and Sailing Club (MOFSC) consulted with Recfishwest on reef location with volunteers from MOFSC even dropping cameras to the seafloor to find the ideal site characteristics for the reef.

Strong support also came from local MP and keen fisher, the Honourable Dr Kim Hames. The reef had support from a large amount of stakeholder organisations including the Western Australian Department of Fisheries, City of Mandurah, Tourism WA and the Mandurah and Peel Tourism Organisation as well as many others.

With the same modules in a similar depth to the successful south west artificial reefs, the Mandurah Artificial Reef is expected to develop into a complex marine habitat supporting a diverse fish community providing fishing opportunities for iconic species such as Pink Snapper, Skippy, Dhufish, Baldchin Groper and Samson Fish. Prior to the deployment of the Dunsborough and Bunbury artificial reefs only a dozen fish species were identified at the deployment locations. Three years later over 60 species have called these reefs home. As the Mandurah reef has been constructed from the same modules and placed in a similar depths we are confident the Mandurah reef will experience the same success.

It will take surprisingly little time for the new reefs to be inhabited by fish and colonised by algae, sponges and corals. Within two months of deploying the reefs off Dunsborough and Bunbury, pelagic species such as Samson Fish and Skippy were observed on the reefs as well as large amounts of bait holding up in the modules. In only 6 months, large amounts of algae had colonised the modules and demersal fish such as Dhufish were seen on the reefs. In just over a year, coralline algae, sponges and bryozoans appeared on the reefs.  Now over 60 different fish species including slower colonisers such as Blue Groper, Octopus and Wobbegongs have been identified on these reefs.

The Mandurah Artificial Reef is Australian made with the modules being designed by an Australian company called the Haejoo Group, built in WA at MJB industries in Australind, deployed by Perth based company Subcon Ptyltd who used staff and vessels from Total AMS.

The local fishing community has had real ownership of the development of the reef as well as provide expert advice to maximise the fishing opportunities for everyone in the region. There is no doubt that the Mandurah fishing community will grow a sense of stewardship for the reef as it continues to develop.

The reefs will also assist the broader local community by bringing benefits to local businesses and the economy by increased fishing tourism in the Peel Region. The artificial reefs provide not only an opportunity for ecological growth on the modules but also social and economic growth for the community.