Bigger shellfish reef for Port Phillip Bay

Build it and they will come — whopping great snapper, whiting and calamari — so hopes Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club, which has received a grant for the creation of more living shellfish reefs in Port Phillip Bay.

If we can rebuild fish habitat it follows that angling opportunities will improve. And if this happens on Melbourne’s doorstep, well, that's a win for the Target One Million campaign designed to get more Victorians fishing.

Member for Albert Park, Martin Foley, said the $147,000 grant would help the Albert Park Yachting and Angling Club expand their living shellfish project, which commenced several years ago with The Nature Conservancy and Fisheries Victoria.

The project’s expansion will involve scaling-up from one square metre experimental patches to 400 square metre shellfish reefs.

The shellfish reef project, which has involved grass root anglers and volunteers, utilises the international expertise of The Nature Conservancy, which has undertaken similar projects elsewhere in the world with considerable success.

Yet this is just one of 17 new projects, worth more than $1.1 million, funded by Victorian fishing licence fees. As the state rec fishing body VR Fish says: "This is the signature fish habitat and environmental project for marine waters in Victoria. Initiated by anglers and progressed in partnership with government and non-government agencies. This is just the beginning. Exciting times."

The shellfish project complements the State Government’s Target One Million plan for recreational fishing, which aims to increase participation to one million anglers by 2020 and get more people fishing, more often.

You can learn more about the 16 other new projects funded by fishing licence fees at Recreational Fishing Grants Program.