Gold Coast artificial reef

[Nugget]

Ian Banks - the guy who shoots the underwater footage you see on Channel Ten Friday nights - #and I had a meeting with the Gold Coast Council on Friday regarding the possibility of a shallow offshore artificial reef.
The idea is an artificial reef that would be very easily accessible for the smaller brigade of offshore boats within a short run from the Seaway.
The idea is not an attempt to repair the Gold Coast’s ecosystem - it is meant as an easily accessible / short run location for those heading through the Seaway for a spot of diving or fishing.
Something like Moreton Bay's Harry Atkinson artificial reef - but offshore.
The proposal is snowballing.
I pushed hard for an official word saying they were behind the scheme and... A scoop for 4BC on Sat morning and here on Ausfish - the following:

Gold Coast Artificial Reef

The Gold Coast City Council is committed to the improvement of our marine environment and the enhancement of community use of this valuable natural resource. After liaising with local recreation fishing groups and other sections of the community, the need to improve near shore-fishing opportunities on the northern Gold Coast has been identified. At present there are limited offshore areas for recreational fishing located close to the popular Gold Coast Seaway. An artificial reef has been proposed to address this issue and would seek to;

• Enhance fishery resources by creating new habitat where none currently exists.

• Provide new nearshore fishing opportunities for recreational fishers and further develop fishing tourism.

• Recognise the potential interaction with existing fisheries and attempt to minimize any associated conflict.

• Develop a sense of awareness and responsibility amongst recreational fishers for the sustainable use of fishery resources and habitats.

• Foster partnerships between government, recreational fishing communities and associated industry to conserve, restore and enhance the values of recreational fisheries on the Gold Coast.


The local recreational fishing community supported by the Gold Coast City Council will seek funding to support the project under the Commonwealth Government’s ‘ Recreational Fishing Community Grants Programme’. Future community meetings will take place to determine the location and structure of the reef. #

Dave ><>

[Willo]

Yeah Nugget
Has there been any early suggestions or ideas as yet to the type of structure and a location

[Nugget]

We have looked over charts - 16 metres of water off the Pumping Jetty is outside commercial trawl areas and has a hard bottom - less than 2k off the Seaway.
Extensive tests have been done in other countries regarding the structure - there are commercial products built for the purpose.
My main push is for big - I want it to be able to accommodate a lot of boats - one old trawler is not going to cut it.


Dave ><>

[stubbie]

Good on ya Nugget for putting ya hand up ! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
It's about time something like this was made available down the 'goldie'!
I'll be eagerly awaiting the outcome of this.Please keep us informed Dave of anything us fellow boaties can do to help!!!!!!!!

[DaneCross]

Great stuff Dave, good to see someone going after the Recreational Fishing Community Grants in the local area. I suggested Ausfish put their hand up for some of the funds available. Its good to see you have council backing as well. You should claim naming rites while you're at it. I have a feeling we could be fishing the Downey-Banks Artificial Reef before too long ;) :D
Dane

[Cloud_9]

or could be the GOLDEN NUGGET Fishing resurve?
sorry bout the spelling
Cloud 9

[Nugget]

I'm only a small cog in the wheel.
It's going to take a lot of effort to get it past this stage.
The main thing to remember is that it's not an answer to the environmental issues and lack of offshore species off the Gold Coast.
We're trying to open a lolly shop in a ghost town that has an enormous amount of passing traffic.

Dave ><>

[mattooty]

Real good idea Dave. Keep pushing it and soon enought it will be there. Wat sort of structure can be used to make it? Like, a massive reef would be hard to make in the scale you're talking. Am really interested to see how this goes.
Good luck, and all the best with the situation.
Matt

[Remo]

Nugget, just remember that it only takes one drop to fill dam and without it.
It will not fill.
Got to love your work :D :D :D

Regards

Ray

[rando]

Well Done Dave, youve got the ball rolling , if you need any support just ask
rando

[blaze]

I did some research for an artie reef down here, found a mould for concrete domes with holes in them, they are about 6' in diameter and a couple high. they are made to stack on top of each other. some initial costing looked like around $250 000 for a small reef. Only ever got to the research stage as the interest dropped off. The other thing of interest is someone/corporate body needs to take ownership of it incase of an evoiromental disaster so there is some one to sue.
Best of luck and I hope things go well with it
cheers
blaze

[keen_as_mustard]

Nugget,

From what I understood of your post the push is to have the reef inside the 2klm zone (ie. we won't need EPIRBS to fish it, only flares)?

To me that is pretty important as I am one of the 14' tinny owning estuary brigade who only go outside the seaway when it is pretty flat. It is hard to justifying spending $500 on an EPIRB that I will use a couple of times a year!

Sounds like a great idea - can't wait!

[Nugget]

Blaze it may well be that this is done in stages - the bottom line is that now the GC Council is behind it and there is money available through the Comonwealth Grants Scheme.
We'd love to have you involved if you're interested.

Marty_z - mate you hit the nail on the head.
I'm not promoting unsafe operation offshore but the law states where EPIRBs are required and if it was inside the limit it would be a lot more attractive for the family or occasional boatie.

I want to point out that I am just a spall part of the project - I'm hoping a GC fishing club will adopt the project and run with it.
I have a plan B if that doesn't eventuate but you always go for the best option first.

If you're club is asked to attend or if and when public meetings are announced it would be good if you came along.

Dave ><>

[blaze]

Hi Nugget
Have a look at the ulverstone Dive club web site, they used the domes.What we found was that to get around all the envoirment problems they were our best option. We had some discussin with a local concrete firm and they were prepared to make the domes with waste concrete left over from pours. We would have set up moulds and dismanlted, when we had a barge load of domes they were to be place.
Any one wanting more info, do a google, there is a lot of stuff out there, mostly usa stuff
cheers
blaze

[Hoges]

Hi Nugget
Have a look at the ulverstone Dive club web site, they used the domes.What we found was that to get around all the envoirment problems they were our best option. We had some discussin with a local concrete firm and they were prepared to make the domes with waste concrete left over from pours. We would have set up moulds and dismanlted, when we had a barge load of domes they were to be place.
Any one wanting more info, do a google, there is a lot of stuff out there, mostly usa stuff
cheers
blaze

Tires in concrete
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0828/Images/fig2.gif

Low profile concrete reef module developed and deployed in Japan. The base is 28 x 28 feet; the top is 19 x 19 feet; and the height is 3 feet. In an area of 1 square mile 540 of these units were placed off the coast of Japan.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0828/Images/Module.gif

Sea Grant/Sea Lab star reefs placed in coastal Alabama waters (Loran-C = 47019.4 - 12900.0). These 8-feet wide x 5-feet high reefs are made of plastic and anchored with concrete.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0828/Images/Star.gif

Dome-shaped concrete reef modules. The base is 7 feet in diameter and the height is 3 feet. These domes can fit together to make a reef of any size.
http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-0828/Images/Domes.gif[/left]

I once concreted a one acre Garden Supply yard within 4 months with left over concrete from the local Ready Mix plant. They actually welcomed the fact they had somewhere local to dump it.
So the idea off setting up the mouldes at the plant or nearby would be a great way to build up a supply of reef material. IMHO

[Gbanger]

This sounds fantastic.

We need to stir up recreational anglers and voters to help apply a little pressure on the council...
Maybe have a poster at the boat ramps on weekends. #

I read about FADS (fish aggregation devices) off NSW in modern fishing (i think)...
they seemed like a relatively simple concept of a large peice of pipe anchored to the bottom...

[Burley_Boy]

I'll support this in anyway I can, so let me know.
$500 for an Epirb, gees did I really pay that much :-/

Nugget your note about a lolly shop in a ghost town is a bit scary... My only offshore experience is offshore Goldy, is it really that bad, is the fishing really so much better everywhere else? :-?

[Nugget]

The offshore reefs within easy access through the Seaway get hit very hard because it is one of the safest coastal bars on the east coast.
Ray Joyce, a GC charter operator for over 20 years, has over 10 years of documented catch data statistics that confirm the decline in fish stocks - snapper in particular.
He has done this recording in a scientific manner that makes it difficult to dispute - there are less fish of legal size than on most other offshore reefs.
Travel 20 min north or south and conditions improve.
Do a charter with Mono off Brunswick Heads if you want to see just how good fishing offshore can be.

Dave ><>

[Cloud_9]

gaday Nugget.
Peter Challanger has contacted us the Gold Coast Sportfishing Club with reguards to the idea.
meeting thursday night at the clubs commity night.
have E-mailed you.

Cloud 9

[Nugget]

Peter is the young Council engineer that has been assigned the project.
I'll do my best to be there but have Boat Show commitments.

There will be negativity from some - the concept is more user friendly than ecosystem repairing.
Think how popular Palmy is - wouldn't it be great to have a nearshore reef like that off the Seaway.

Dave ><>

[rando]

There are quite a few Pot Importers, ( calm down all you children of the 70s)
I mean ceramic pots. They bring them in by the container load, and there are usually cracked and broken pots in the shipment. Im talking about BIG pots here (and small for that matter) . These could be a cheap source of reef building material, stable , environmentally friendly, easy to handle, CHEAP. Ive got some contacts in the industry if any interest in the idea.
Chears
rando

[Cloud_9]

Ive had the suggestion of car body's .
the for this is A there cheap easy to aquire. easy to transport have a bit of bulk about them.
easy to possition and lite enough not to sink into the sand as a concrete block type reef would.
enviromentaly friendly ?
there are car body reefs in place in morten bay.
concrete will leach chemicals from batching.
concrete isn't just sand cement and pebble anymore.
there are more additives than you can poke a stick at.
there are accellorators and retarders, waterproofers. this is just a few.
im no green by anymeans but theres bound to be someone who will say concrete may be detromental.
anyway lets see what been proposed then see what we can do.
if this happens i think it would be great for the fishing and dive industry.
Cloud 9

[Nugget]

Environmental concerns dictate what you can and can't put in the ocean.
It's got me beat how they managed to get the HMAS Brisbane approved.

My dive mate Ian Banks has spent the majority of his working life on oil rigs throughout the world and much of that time in Bass Straight.
He tells me there are oil rig dumps the size of many football fields in remote areas of central Aus - mainly large diameter pipe and steel fixtures.
These would be free and we'd have to pull a few favours to transport them - Ian still has contacts there.
In other countries concrete is used - they have designed special moulds for the purpose - but it has to be special concrete without chemicals or lime in it - the same stuff they use when they pour bridge pylons.

I like the idea of car bodies because they can be continually added to.
From a diving point of view anything recognisable like car bodies are interesting - how many people did a tour of the Brisbane when she was dry? - Now all of a sudden it’s on the bottom and everyone want to look at it.

The bottom line is that the GC Council will dictate what goes on the bottom and they are leaning heavily towards purpose built, environmentally approved structures.

Dave ><>

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

the local teenagers have been experimenting with artifical reefs in the canals behind Jupiters using car bodies & shopping trollies for years now. #
Big Jacks & bream seem to like their work, maybe these youngsters could do some consulting as part of their ... errr ... community service. # ;)

Seriously, an inshore reef would want to satisfy some seriously ruffled feathers of the very powerful ( & green aligned) surfriders lobby on the Goldie. They've had some major dissappointments with the results of the sand bipass & narrowneck etc
It would not want to interfere with the superbank on Sth straddie - the one plus they've had.

[Heath]

There was some talk about the artificial reef at the screening tonight. The engineer from GCCC put up a slide of the size of the proposed reef & it stunned me as to how big it was. They didn't have any litriture there about it other than the slide, so I'll stick a pic up of the proposed size as best as I can remember.

More importantly!!
Don't think for one minute its just going to happen. The money for this sort of thing is through grants. GCCC can not access the grant. They need a group to apply for the grant, then they do all the leg work & biodiversity studies etc. There was a question raised by a person who was from one of the Greenie groups, sprouting that such a reef should be a Marine Park. ( The guy looked like the fella off the Footy show on Saturday who runs the bowling comp for the players ;D )... anyway!

I'll put a scenario to you guys that fish out of the Seaway.
The Greenie group get their act together & apply for the grant for the artificial reef. What chances do you think the rec fisho has of being able to fish on it?..... No need to tell you the answer to that.

There is a meeting at the GC sports fishing club tomorrow 1/9/05 at 7:30pm

I would suggest as a rec fisho, if you would like to see something as fantastic as an artificial reef a few KM from the Seaway, then we need to make our voices heard.

[DaneCross]

:o :o Thats HUGE :o :o Shes bound to hold some Mackerel schools before too long ;)

[SCOTTYGC]

There is a meeting at the GC sports fishing club tomorrow 1/9/05 at 7:30pm

I would suggest as a rec fisho, if you would like to see something as fantastic as an artificial reef a few KM from the Seaway, then we need to make our voices heard.[/quote]

is this club applying for the grant??

sounds like a great idea but you might need to get in line on a busy weekend during mac season

scotty

[Burley_Boy]

Not sure if that map was meant to show the area within which the proposed reef would be located Heath, rather than the actual size of the reef, but I could have missunderstood.

To pull this off I think that both fishos and divers will have to pull together rather than succumb to tossing sinkers at each other so heres hoping this can happen. Maybe we can all agree to dip the greenies in concrete and use them as a reef. :o

[Nugget]

Just a point - the money comes from a Grant Sceme for FISHING.
Green organisations, dive clubs nor anyone else can apply for it.
We need - if we get behind the proposal, to be in total control and dictate the terms we will agree to.
And yes Heath is spot on - we need to get together with dive groups and possibly a green representative, so they are on side from the start in the development of this FISHING reef.

Dave ><>

[Nugget]

This has progressed behind the scenes a little further.
What would anglers on this site see as a good working arangement with divers?
Whilst we have nothing against each other, they are two sports that don't work side by side.

1 - Should anglers be allowed to anchor or should there be morring posts?
2 - Should divers be segregated to one end and fishos to the other?
3 - How would you suggest the two groups utilise the reef without conflict?

Dave ><>

[Bowser]

Why do the divers have to be involved? Fisherman cannot use the 'Brisbane' we can't get at Flat Rock because divers have killed off the grey nurse? When is something going to done exclusively or at least primarily for fisherman? I understand the politics that have to be played to get something like this in place, but just once I would like to see non-tourist, local fisherman considered and given something that is for them. We spend a motsa in the community for our sport and get bugger all back.

[Darryl]

I was born and bred on the Gold Coast , i have fished there since i was a four year old kid (i'm now 37).Now in this time i have watched the fish stocks decline really badly , offshore in close is just flogged real bad and really isn't worth the cost of fuel most days to head out.

Some would say it's me and they way i fish etc , but i know for fact that fish stocks have perished considerably over the last 5 or so years. I mean i used to fish mitchells jetty as a kid and catch anything from huge mud crabs to tailor , #i used to paddle a Malibu in loders creek and catch a feed.

I also remember watching Nev Howard on Chris Conroys wonderfull world of boating :-? catch massive fish on the inshore reefs. My #point is that i totally agree that this project needs to happen.It will never fish inside like it used to but this is one great step in the right direction.

Dave has a great point with why should divers be involved? I mean for the 32 odd years i have fished the gold coast i have never gotten a bloody thing as a recreational fisherman. Ow i tell a lie, they told me when i got my boat licence it was 2 dollars for life,then they upped it to a yearly fee when knowone was looking.

The divers have flags up on every rock structure in the place , and no, i dont have anything against divers at all. Hell if there wasn't such things as bloody sharks i would have no problem doing it.


Great stuff nugget , i'm really pleased to see something that might happen for the recreational fisherman of the Gold Coast. I know i'm only one man but if i can help in any way shape or form let me know.


Kudo's to everyone concerend.