Melbourne Metro Region, VIC

[glen]

Here is some info on artificial reefs in Victoria (and Port Phillip Bay). I will try to get a more accurate location of the reef for you if I can get hold of the Winstanley article.

Victoria



The first documented artificial reef in Australian waters was constructed in October 1965 by the Victorian Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Port Phillip Bay, near Melbourne. This reef, which was laid in about 20 m of water 8 km off Carrum on the bay's eastern shore, initially comprised around 330 waste concrete pipes, each up to m in length and 1. 8 m in diameter, weighing in total about 400 metric tons (t). These pipes were barged to the site and sunk on a fine silt bottom over an area of about4 ha (Anonymous, 1965; Sanders, 1974). Although this reef initially provided good fishing for Australian snapper, Chrysophrys auratus, a highly sought recreational species in this area, the concrete pipes gradually sank into the soft substrate and had been scattered over too wide an area to provide a very effective long-term fishing reef. A ferrocement cabin cruiser and a 52 m timber hulk containing about 40 t of concrete ballast were added to this artificial reef in 1967 and 1971, respectively (Sanders, 1974; Beinssen, 1976).



Three multicomponent reefs, each consisting of 100 m[.] of quarry rock, three m[.] steel-reinforced open concrete cubes, four 3m[.] open steel frames, and about 1,000 motor vehicle tires tied in bundles of 8 tires each, were placed on sandy substrates in about 10 m of water in Port Phillip Bay in 1973. These were laid off Mordialloc (near Carrum), Dromana (to the south) and Werribee (to the west), in conjunction with the laying of an ethane pipeline across the bay by EssoBHP Australia [1] (Winstanley, 1972; Sanders, 1974). Diving observations on these reefs showed all of the components except the tires to have been densely settled by mussels, Mytilus edulis, within 6 months of their being laid. After 2 years most of the mussels had died off, except those on the steel frames, and the sessile fauna and flora of the remaining reef components were dominated by red algae, sponges, ascidians, and hydroids (Beinssen, 1976).



Like the Carrum reef, these latter reefs supported good populations of Australian snapper (Sparidae), and also ling (Ophidiidae), boarfish (Pentacerotidae), red mullet (Mullidae), beardie and bearded rock cod (Moridae), leatherjacket (Monacanthidae), long-finned sea pike (Dinolestidae) and garfish Hemirhamphidae), as well as a number of smaller nonangling species. Most of the fish observed on these multicomponent reefs were associated with the tires, which were concluded to " offer by far the most shelter" (Beinssen, 1976).



Locations of these and other Victorian artificial reefs are given by Winstanley (1979), who also commented that, although the concrete pipes, quarry rock, and tires appeared to support the greatest variety and number of fishes sought by anglers, "Development of artificial reefs in Victorian waters has occurred on an ad hoc basis rather than as a planned program, consequently although some observations of established reefs have been made by the Fisheries and Wildlife Division there have not been sufficient resources for systematic monitoring of reef colonisation or for comparison of the effectiveness of different types of materials."

[url="http://www.the-boat-zone.com/Brion-Reiff-Boatbuilder/Broadwater-Cabin-Cruiser.htm"]http://www.the-boat-zone.com/Brion-Reiff-B...bin-Cruiser.htm[/url]