A group using discarded seafood shells to create hundreds of cubic metres of fish habitat in Corio Bay is seeking more supporters for their cause.
The Shuck Don’t Chuck recycling project had created more than 500 cubic metres of reefs out of shells since 2016, The Nature Conservancy Australia’s Tony Jupp said.
“We’re already seeing octopuses and cuttlefish living within the new reefs and then there are other animals that come to eat those as well.”
Overharvesting, grinding shells for lime and pollution had severely depleted shellfish reefs, Mr Jupp said.
For example Australian Flat Oyster shell reefs had declined by 99 per cent over the past century, he said.
The project’s man-made reefs provided fertile breeding grounds and habitats for local fish and helped filter water, Mr Jupp said.
The project had collected about 137 tonnes of shells from five Geelong restaurants and Portarlington Mussel Festival, the conservancy’s marine restoration coordinator Simon Branigan said.
“Now we’d like to recruit other restaurants in the Greater Geelong region to join the project.”
The oyster, mussel and scallop shells, which would have otherwise become landfill, helped restore 2.5 hectares of shellfish reefs off Geelong, Mr Branigan said.
Workers from Geelong Disabled People’s Industries collected the left over shells and brought them to the conservancy’s processing facilities, he said.
“There they will be stored and cured until such time as they’re ready to be taken out to our shellfish reef restoration sites in Corio Bay and elsewhere.”
