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The porous domes emerge through the water’s surface, becoming increasingly exposed on the falling tide.
Kelp plants, sea snails, mussels and the white shells of tiny limpets have attached themselves to the rippled surfaces of the rounded structures.
The artificial reef at Clifton Springs. Credit: Jason South
These 46 alien-like domes form an artificial reef – part environmental restoration project, part art installation – on a beach at Clifton Springs on the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong.
The City of Greater Geelong commissioned the design, manufacturing and installation of the reef. The council’s senior strategic environmental planner, Ralph Roob, said it had already provided habitat for a diverse range of marine creatures since it was installed in October last year.
“It’s about restoring what’s been lost,” he said.
Roob said historic dredging and fishing practices as well as shell extraction for construction materials had done serious damage to the Port Phillip Bay ecosystem. During the 1800s, Victoria had a voracious appetite for oysters that left once-abundant stocks seriously depleted.
Environmental planner Ralph Roob says the Dell Eco Reef is helping to promote marine biodiversity. Credit: Jason South
He hopes the Dell Eco Reef will enhance biodiversity in the bay and reduce wave heights to prevent the coastline receding – a growing problem with sea level rise and increasingly severe storms exacerbated by climate change.
The cave-like holes in the reef domes created hiding holes for schools of juvenile whiting and anchovies. “The structures create refuges from predation from large fish,” Roob said.
The domes are made from recycled materials, including small shells and fly ash, which is a by product of burning coal in the Latrobe Valley.
Although it is too early to determine whether the reef installation will be effective in reducing shoreline loss, Roob said the beach had appeared to stabilise in the past year.
“We do know the reef has been effective in reducing wave height and wave energy,” he said.
Mussels and algae are now growing on the domes, which are also attracting shore crabs and shrimp. Roob oversaw the installation of another artificial reef in Portarlington, which he said was helping to broaden the beach and prevent shore loss.
The reef at Clifton Springs is surrounded by seagrass where tiny fish dart about. When The Age visited this week, there was a banjo shark laying docile in the grass basking in the warm, shallow water.
There will be snorkelling tours of the Dell Eco Reef this weekend as part of the Geelong Design Week, which includes a series of events that runs until October 29.
The domes are designed to be moved if necessary and weigh up to two tonnes each.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne are undertaking experiments with the reef and examining its ability to grow native shellfish.
Industrial designer and Reef Design Lab founder Alex Goad created the designs and mould for the domes.
He said their shape was inspired by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi whose striking building designs have gained UNESCO heritage recognition in Barcelona.
Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain.Credit: Alamy
Goad wants people to explore the domes, which reach about chest height for an adult.
“At high tide, people can swim between them,” he said. “They were designed to look like sculptural pieces.”
Goad said the project had allowed him to explore his interest in design and sculpture.
“Being able to combine that with sea life starting to grow is the greatest privilege.”
The shoreline at Clifton Springs. Credit: Jason South
Artificial reefs have been installed in marine environments across the world including in Japan, where they have been used to enhance fishing and marine conservation. Elsewhere, reefs have been constructed for surfing with limited success.
Melbourne University coastal erosion expert David Kennedy said only long-term research would determine whether artificial reefs are successful in protecting the coastline.
Kennedy has not studied the Dell Eco Reef but said artificial structures did promote marine life in areas where they were installed.
“If you put anything hard in the ocean, things will start to colonise it,” he said.
Roob exploring the artificial reef at Clifton Springs.Credit: Jason South
Kennedy said while artificial reefs built with good intentions would probably enhance biodiversity, they may deliver limited benefits in stabilising coastlines in the face of sea level rise.
However, he said the Dell Eco Reef was far gentler on the marine environment than harder structures, including sea walls, which often resulted in the loss of beaches.
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