Big day on the water - habitat mapping for oyster reef project
by RFA of NSW 12 Sep 2021 12:29 BST
Habitat mapping for oyster reef project © RFA of NSW
RFA received clearance from Sydney Airport Corporation to map the seafloor between the runways in Botany Bay.
We had security clearance, Police clearance and Water Police notification that allowed Stan Konstantaras to join Mark Reid from Furuno on his boat and his array of technology.
4.5 hours and 45 km later the was job done, albeit going in circles.
The plan has been in the pipeline for a while now and was shelved last year during first stages of Covid, but this time, with not many planes flying in, Sydney Airport gave us the go ahead. Both Mark and Stan live in the 5 km bubble that let us get in there.
Next stage will be looking at planning to enhance the habitat between the runways with small artificial reefs, rocky structures for the weed to grow on and supplement the oysters and cunjevoi that grows in there, albeit sparsely.
Yes - we know you can't fish in there, but we are hoping to build the nursery areas we have lost in the Botany Bay to help the fish grow and spread throughout the Bay for us to catch.
Stay tuned as we work on developing Stage 2 with some more project partners.