Fishing: Artificial reef off Tweed Heads a win for Gold Coast and Tweed anglers
It cost $1.1m and it’s about to be dumped in the ocean off the Gold Coast. And there’s an interesting reason why.
Gold Coast
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AN ARTIFICIAL reef will be sunk off the Tweed in coming months in a boon for sports fishers on both sides of the border.
The $1.1 million offshore reef will be installed off the Tweed Heads river entrance to attract sports fish including cobia, kingfish, mackerel, mulloway, snapper and trevally.
The centrepiece of the unusual looking project, due to be 15-20 metres deep, will be a special “fish grotto” rising 10m from the sea floor, surrounded by 32 concrete “arrowhead” reef modules.
Tweed MP Geoff Provest said the artificial reef will be deployed 7.5km southeast of the river entrance (28° 13.446′ S, 153° 35.508′ E), about 2.5km off the coast of Wommin Bay.
The reef has already been designed and construction is underway.
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“Stay tuned for more info on the installation, scheduled to take place in coming months,” Mr Provest said.
The artificial reef is New South Wales’ most northerly structure of its kind.
It’s engineered to survive massive coastal storms and is being designed to last decades.
The NSW Government expects the new reef will take only a few years to “come alive with a diverse fish community taking up residence”.
Meanwhile, construction began on a larger $18.2m artificial reef at Palm Beach on the Coast last year.
The massive project 270m offshore will alter waves and currents to reduce erosion, but fishing will not be allowed on the reef.
It will only be 1.5m below the surface at average water level and will be identified with buoys.
Originally published as Fishing: Artificial reef off Tweed Heads a win for Gold Coast and Tweed anglers