First Artificial Reef for Peel Region

Recreational fishers are set to get their first artificial reef in the Peel region with the preferred location for a new reef off Mandurah now selected, Fisheries Minister Ken Baston said today.

Mr Baston said that the success of the South-West artificial reef trials helped secure funding from the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF) to establish another reef about nine kilometers off the Mandurah coast.

The Minister said that the Mandurah reef, made up of 30 purpose-built concrete reef modules, would be deployed in an area that was double the size of the oval at the MCG, providing four hectares of habitat for fish to populate.

“This year, $604,890 has been allocated for the deployment of the reef, taking the State Government’s total investment in the Mandurah artificial reef through the RFIF to $1.139 million,” he said.

“This will be the first artificial reef to be deployed that is funded entirely by recreational fishing licence fees, which proves the fees are being used to improve recreational fishing.”

Mr Baston said that the Government’s artificial reef trials in the South-West had proved popular with fishers off Bunbury and Dunsborough, by attracting an increased abundance and diversity of species.

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