The shellfish reef restoration project in Moreton Bay is the largest community-driven shellfish reef restoration project in Australia. The project involves collection of used shells from seafood businesses and restaurants across Brisbane. The recycling center sterilises the used shells from disease and pests for up to 4 months before placing them back in the Bay. The Robust Oyster Baskets (ROBs) that house the recyled oyster shells, are made from degradable steel mesh that takes about 2 years to degrade which gives the oysters and other shellfish time to clump together before completely rusting out, leaving only a solid structure of oyster shells and living shellfish. The modular reef restoration structures will be positioned in areas outside of green zones where oyster reefs previously existed in locations that will not detrimentally affect seagrasses, wading birds, commercial fishers and wormers or create boating navigation hazards or amenity. Project monitoring conducted with university researchers aims to scale up the most effective restoration methods over the coming 10 years with the goal of restoring 100 hectares of oyster reef in a decade. This has the potential to generate up to 250 tonnes of seafood per year.

Shellfish

Method: Substrate provision

Shellfish species: Saccostrea glomerata, Pinctada albina sugillata, Trichomya hirsuta

Hybrid structure: Robust Oyster Basket filled with recycled oyster shell