Reef project starts at last
INSTALLATION of an artificial reef of marine sculptures, previously pitched as a Sunken Gallery, has finally started after years of delays.
The City of Greater Geelong’s troubled Clifton Springs project was supposed to be an underwater masterpiece filled with 10 sculptures to draw divers from across Australia and abroad.
The project, pitched in 2017, was initially expected to cost more than $1m – and was allocated $500,000 across the CoGG’s 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 budgets.
That project was scrapped in January last year and replaced with a scaled-back Dell Eco Reef project. Now worth $250,000, it will be made up of 46 reef units, the first of which were installed at The Dell on Wednesday.
The council said the project would enhance The Dell’s natural assets, with work to be completed sensitively to protect native marine life.
It is hoped fish, mussels and seaweed will colonise in the artificial reef.
The attraction, designed and manufactured by Alex Goad from Melbourne-based company Reef Lab Designs, will be accessed by wading or snorkelling as it will be exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide.
Mr Goad said the attraction would benefit the local marine environment and create a unique wave break system to protect the coastline from eroding.
“A deep understanding of how these intertidal ecosystems work has allowed us to … provide much-needed wave break protection and also deliver a sculptural system that will enhance the beauty of the coast,” he said.
Mayor Peter Murrihy said the reef was a unique feature of the region that would draw visitors to the beach.
The University of Melbourne and the National Centre for Coasts and Climate will seed some reef units with native flat oysters as well as monitoring the natural colonisation of native species within the artificial reef.